I 


THE  LAMD 
WE  LOVE 


AMERICA 

THE  LAND   WE  LOVE 


iwrlaratum  of 


—AMERICA  FOR  HUMANITY— 

/,  the  Undersigned,  hereby  pledge  my  Loyalty  to  "America: 
The  Land  We  Love"  and  do  here  covenant  myself  to  support  by 
word  and  deed  the  Principles  set  forth  in  The  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence and  the  Doctrines  Established  in  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States. 

I  affirm  my  Faith  in  the  Cardinal  Principles  of  Liberty,  Jus- 
tice, and  Equality  throughout  the  World — regardless  of  Race, 
Creed,  Sex  or  Birthplace,  subscribing  to  our  Nation's  policy: 
"America  for  Humanity." 

I  consecrate  myself  to  the  High  Ideals  and  Sacred  Duties  of 
American  Citizenship,  to  the  protection  of  Home  and  Country,  and 
to  the  maintenance  of  the  Honor  of  the  Republic  in  my  Civic,  So- 
cial and  Business  Relations — "with  malice  toward  None  and 
Charity  for  All" 

Sealed  with  my  signature  on  this 
....  day  of  . . . . ,  in  the 
year  of 

{Sign  here} 


AMERICA 

THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 


A  NARRATIVE  RECORD 

OF  THE 

ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

THEIR    HISTORY— GOVERNMENT— WARS— INVENTIONS— DISCOVERIES 

—GREAT  MEN— FAMOUS  WOMEN— INDUSTRY— COMMERCE— AND 

THE  ESSENTIAL  ELEMENTS  THAT  HAVE  ENTERED 

INTO  THE  BUILDING  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 


BY 

FRANCIS  TREVELYAN  MILLER,  LL.D.,  LITT.  D. 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF  OF  THE  TEN  VOLUME  "PHOTOGRAPHIC  HISTORY  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR," 

AUTHOR  OF  "AMERICAN  HERO  TALES,"  "PORTRAIT  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN," 

"WONDER  STORIES,"  FOUNDER  OF  THE  JOURNAL  OF 

AMERICAN  HISTORY 


WITH    EXCERPTS    FROM    EPOCH-MAKING    SPEECHES    BY 

WOODROW   WILSON,   WILLIAM   H.   TAFT,   THEODORE    ROOSEVELT, 

PRESIDENTS   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES 


THREE   HUNDRED  ILLUSTRATIONS 
HISTORIC    ENGRAVINGS — FAMSUS   PAINTINGS — PHOTOGRAPHS 


NEW  YORK 

WILLIAM  THOMAS  ELAINE 
MCMXVI 


COPYRIGHT  1915 
THE  SEARCH-LIGHT  BOOK  CORPORATION 

(Egbert  Gilliss  Handy,  President) 

NEW  YORK 


J.  F.  TAPLEY  CO. 

NEW   YORK 


fta  Volume  ta  Srirt- 
raUft  10  £h*rg 
Am^riran  2bgar&l*HH  0f 
Sac^,  fflr^i,  &^K,  nr 
r,  tolfn  TB  fflon- 
In  Itj?  Olar&inal 
a  0f  Sibrrtg — 
Equality — 
iHatulatnH  llie  ^tgh 
^arr^it  fiutira 
af  Am^riran 


PUBLISHER'S  STATEMENT 

IT  is  a  privilege  as  well  as  a  duty  to  present  this  volume  to  the  Amer- 
ican people  under  the  inspiring  title:  "America:  The  Land  We 
Love,"  covering  its  400  years  of  progress  and  growth.  It  is  a  book 
with  a  great  mission  to  perform;  a  book  with  a  message.  It  has  a 
public  service  to  render  which  we  believe  has  not  come  within  the  province 
of  a  single  volume  since  the  founding  of  the  American  Nation. 

This  book,  therefore,  is  in  the  nature  of  a  national  survey  for  the 
whole  American  People — regardless  of  creed,  race,  sex,  political  faith  or 
birthplace — a  book  for  the  hundred  million  Americans,  uniting  them  all 
under  a  common  standard.  Its  purpose  is  to  arouse  them  to  an  under- 
standing of  their  potential  power — their  past  achievements,  their  present 
greatness,  and  their  future  opportunities — to  awaken  in  them  the  full 
realization  of  the  magnitude  of  their  obligations  and  responsibilities  to 
American  citizenship. 

This  National  awakening  can  be  accomplished  only  through  one 
force — that  is,  the  public  press,  the  miracle  of  advancing  civilization — the 
greatest  single  force  in  the  moulding  of  National  character,  in  developing 
the  latent  resources  of  a  people,  enlightening  their  minds,  and  generating 
the  elements  that  result  in  the  rise  or  fall  of  nations.  Through  the  loyal 
co-operation  of  the  American  press,  this  volume  undertakes  to  lay  before 
the  American  people  a  narrative  record  of  their  achievements — their  His- 
tory, Government,  Wars,  Inventions,  Discoveries,  Great  Men,  Famous 
Women,  and  all  the  essential  elements  that  have  entered  into  the  building 
of  the  Republic  to  the  first  position  among  all  nations. 

It  is  sufficient  to  state  that  this  work  is  under  the  direction  of  Dr. 
Miller,  a  historian  who  has  performed  many  notable  services  to  his  coun- 
try. (See  title  page.)  Under  his  supervision  a  national  board  of  investi- 
gators and  researchers  have  examined  carefully  every  phase  of  our  National 
progress.  They  have  analyzed  the  evidence  presented  by  more  than  1,500 
authorities.  This  examination  covers  every  available  source  of  accurate 
information  and  includes  the  judgment  of  the  most  eminent  American  his- 
torians. It  is  not  only  a  work  of  approved  scholarship  and  authenticity, 
but  an  expression  of  loyalty  for  a  common  cause — our  nation's  lofty  prin- 
ciples of  liberty,  justice  and  equality — an  endeavor  to  instill  National 
spirit,  to  organize  National  unity,  to  rally  every  loyal  American  to  the 
National  pledge  of  AMERICA  FOR  HUMANITY.  The  wonderful  and 
inspiring  story  of  American  civilization  is  unfolded  in  graphic  narrative  in 
these  pages  to  give  the  reader  a  comprehensive  understanding  at  a  glance 
of  "AMERICA:  The  Land  We  Love,"  and  to  impress  him  with  a  correct 
knowledge  of  the  great  honor  and  distinction  of  being  an  American  citizen. 

WILLIAM  THOMAS  ELAINE. 
11 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTORY 

PAGE 

AMERICA  FOR  HUMANITY — American  Flag  on  Field  of  White  as  the  Ensign  of 
the  World's  Liberty  and  Peace — Emblazoned  by  Dr.  Robert  S.  Freedman 
of  New  York — Originally  designed  by  Mr.  Henry  Petit  of  Philadelphia 
on  plan  suggested  by  Dr.  William  Osborne  McDowell  of  New  York  .  .  3 

THE  NEW  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE — A  Pledge  for  Every  American — 

Written  for  this  volume  by  Dr.  Francis  Trevelyan  Miller 5 

AMERICA — THE   BEACON   OF  LIBERTY — Frontispiece  painted   for  this  volume 

by  Carl  Lotave 6 

DEDICATION — Illuminated  Title  Page — Painted  by  Carl  Lotave 9 

PUBLISHER'S  STATEMENT — By  William  T.  Blaine 11 

AMERICA — MY  COUNTRY  'Tis  OF  THEE — Words  and  Music 19 

AMERICA — THE  LAND  WE  LOVE — A  New  National  Anthem — By  Dr.  Francis 

Trevelyan  Miller  and  Hon.  Henry  Taylor  Blake 20 

HISTORIAN'S  FOREWORD — The  Purpose  of  this  volume 21 

EPOCH-MAKING  SPEECHES 

AMERICA — THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 25 

By  Woodrow  Wilson,  President  of  the  United  States  (1913-1917) 

AMERICAN  LIBERTY — The  Stability  of  Freedom 30 

By  William  H.  Taft,  President  of  the  United  States  (1909-1913) 

AMERICAN  IDEALS — Liberty,  Justice,  Equality 35 

By  Theodore  Roosevelt,  President  of  the  United  States  (1901-1909) 

PART  I— HISTORY  AND  GOVERNMENT 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I     AMERICA  AND  THE  AMERICANS — A  Graphic  Description  of  the  United 

States  and  its  people  as  they  Exist  To-day — Magnitude,  Ideals,  etc.     43 

II  NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE — A  complete  concise 
survey  of  the  Discovery  and  Development  of  the  American  Con- 
tinent— covering  400  years  including  Great  American  Political  Cam- 
paigns   55 

III     GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE — A  clear  interpretation  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  showing  the  actual  operations  of  its 

various  departments 141 

12 


CONTENTS 


PART  II— GREAT  EVENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

IV    GREAT  AMERICAN  WARS 167 

PART  III— GREAT  ACHIEVEMENTS 
V     GREAT  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS 201 

VI    AMERICAN  TRIUMPHS  OF  ENGINEERING        243 

PART  IV— GREAT  INSTITUTIONS 

VII  GREAT  AMERICAN  INDUSTRIES 277 

VIII  GREAT  AMERICAN  RAILROADS  AND  COMMERCE   . 306 

IX  GREAT  AMERICAN  MINES 329 

X  GREAT  AMERICAN  AGRICULTURE 347 

XI  GREAT  AMERICAN  BANKS         361 

XII  GREAT  AMERICAN  NEWSPAPERS 368 

PART  V— GREAT  AMERICANS 

XIII  GREAT  AMERICAN  STATESMEN 383 

XIV  GREAT  AMERICAN  SOLDIERS 393 

XV    GREAT  AMERICAN  JURISTS 401 

XVI  GREAT  AMERICAN  FINANCIERS .  410 

XVII  GREAT  AMERICAN  AUTHORS 421 

XVIII  GREAT  AMERICAN  ARTISTS 436 

XIX  GREAT  AMERICAN  COMPOSERS 448 

XX  GREAT  AMERICAN  EDUCATORS 460 

XXI  GREAT  AMERICAN  WOMEN 468 

PART  VI— HISTORIC  AMERICAN  SHRINES 
XXII     GRANDEUR  OF  AMERICAN  SCENERY 480 

XXIII  BEAUTIFUL  AMERICAN  PARKS 493 

XXIV  GREAT  AMERICAN  ARCHITECTURE 497 

XXV     GREAT  AMERICAN  MUSEUMS 504 

(Contents  continued  on  page  14) 

13 


COLLECTIONS  OF  HISTORIC  PAINTINGS— ENGRAVINGS-PHOTOGRAPHS 


GALLERY  OF  PORTRAITS  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES    WITH  AUTOGRAPH  SIGNATURES— 

Twenty-seven  etchings  by  Audibert — Reproduced  by  courtesy  of  Mr.  Irving  E. 
Rines  and  permission  of  the  American  Educational  Alliance. 


George  Washington 
John  Adams 
Thomas  Jefferson 
James  Madison 
James  Monroe 
John  Quincy  Adams 
Andrew  Jackson 
Martin  Van  Buren 
William  Henry  Harrison 
MASTERPIECES   FROM   THE 


Rutherford  B.  Hayes 
James  A.  Garfield 
Chester  A.  Arthur 
Grover  Cleveland 
Benjamin  Harrison 
William  McKinley 
Theodore  Roosevelt 
William  Howard  Taft 
Woodrow  Wilson 
ART — Reproductions   by 


John  Tyler 
James  K.  Polk 
Zachary  Taylor 
Millard  Fillmore 
Franklin  Pierce 
James  Buchanan 
Abraham  Lincoln 
Andrew  Johnson 
Ulysses  S.  Grant 
METROPOLITAN   MUSEUM  OF 

special  permission  from: 

Morgan  Collection  Altaian  Collection 

Vandcrbilt  Collection  Marquand  Collection 

Huntingdon  Collection  Hearn  Collection 

Coles  Collection  Van  Horn  Collection 

Dun  Collection  Smith  Collection 

EXHIBITS  FROM  THE  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 

Reproductions  by  Special  Permission 
PHOTOGRAPHIC  JOURNEYS  THROUGH  THE  FORTY-EIGHT 

STATES 
Complete  Collection  of  Reproductions  of  State  Capitols 


Alabama 

Illinois 

Minnesota 

North  Carolina 

Tennessee 

Arizona 

Indiana 

Mississippi 

North  Dakota 

Texas 

Arkansas 

Iowa 

Missouri 

Ohio 

Utah 

California 

Kansas 

Montana 

Oklahoma 

Vermont 

Colorado 

Kentucky 

Nebraska 

Oregon 

Virginia 

Connecticut 

Louisiana 

Nevada 

Pennsylvania 

Washington 

Delaware 

Maine 

New  Hampshire 

Rhode  Island 

West  Virginia 

Florida 

Maryland 

New  Jersey 

South  Carolina 

Wisconsin 

Georgia 

Massachusetts 

New  Mexico 

South  Dakota 

Wyoming 

Idaho 

Michigan 

New  York 

PORTO  RICO— HAWAII— ALASKA— PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS 

FACSIMILE  OF  THE  ORIGINAL  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

RARE  ENGRAVINGS  OF  GREAT  EVENTS  AND  WARS 

From  Collection  in  the  The  Search-Light  Library 
PHOTOGRAPHIC  TOURS  THROUGH  AMERICA 

Collection  of  Photographic  Prints  Showing  the  Mountains,  Rivers,  Agricultural  and 

Mineral  Wealth,  and  Scenic  Grandeur  of  America 
Hudson  River  Colorado  Canyon  Panama  Canal 

Niagara  Falls  Yellowstone  Park  Great  Lakes 

White  Mountains  Yosemite  Valley  Mississippi  River 

Natural  Bridge  Garden  of  the  Gods  Pacific  and  Atlantic  States 

Together  with  other  photographs,  covering  the  various  phases  of  American  Life, 
making  a  collection  of  about  300  historic  illustrations. 

14 


PRESIDENT'S  ROOM  IX  THE  WHITE  HOl'SK— (ilimpse  behind  the  scenes  of  Governmen     in   Washinj. 

ton — Here  the  diplomats  from  the  world's  great  powers  meet  the  President  on  State  occasions — 

Momentous  problems  are  discussed  in  this  room. 


^ 


NATIONAL   CAI'ITOL  AT    WASHINGTON — Tins  magnificent  strtn-tiiro  is   a   monument   to  democracy — It   covers   an 
area,    of    153,112     square    feet — The    corner-stone    of    the   original   building  was    laid   by    Washington   in    1793. 


T  OF  THE  AMERICAN  GOVERNMENT     It  is  here  that    the   American    people   are   molding  the   destiny   of  the 
republic — This  la  where  the  Congress  of  the  United   States  and  the  Supreme  Court  convenes. 


\VASIIIXGTOX   AT   TKKXTOX— This    engraving   by    Faed    portrays    the   Commander-in-Chief   of    t!ic 
American  Revolution  at  the  moment  of  Victory — Washington  was  unanimously  elected  by 
Congress  to  lead  the  American   forces  in  the  War  for  American   Independence  on 
June    15,    177.~>--lle   )«'d   them    to   triumph,   after  seven   years   of   heroic 
struggle — Bidding  farewell   to   his  army,   he  resigned   his   com- 
mission   and     retired    to    his    home    at    Mt.     Veruon 
on  December  23,   1783. 


a 

4 
a 


MY  COUNTRY.  Tis  OF  THEE. 


SAMUEL  FRANCIS  SMITH. 

•  OftfAAT* 


UNKNOWN. 
AIR.  ~COD  SAVE  THE  KINt." 


1    J             J            J 

-J"  -7 

H  

ffi-^H  —  rf-=£=  <i     f     i    -*  —  •  —  s 

i.  My       coun  •  try,       'tis          of       thee,    Sweet     land        of 
2.  My        Da    •    live     coun    •     try,      thee—  Land       of         the 
3.  Let        mu    •    sic       swell        the     breeze,   And      ring      from 
4.  Our        fa  •    (hers*     Cod,        to       Thee,     Au   •    thor       of 

7^     F     f  |t:    f    f  iff    f    f  i 

-±.  —  i  —  |  — 

lib     -     er    -   ty, 
no     •    ble     free- 
all         the     trees 
lib     •     er    •    ty, 

f  r  p   i 

^^  r  f— 

—  i  L       i 

a  —  E  —  r— 

-f  £  —  i 

r4§  1 

T 

j 

$r=i 

i   j   j 

J      y    : 

f     f     E 

f  i-        8-        f 

=4—  j»—  f-r: 

tr  —  •  i  f  —  L 

Of     thee      I 
Thy   name     I 
Sweet  free  •  dom's 
To     Thee     we 

jrf—  f—  r-r 

sing;          Land  where  my         fa    -    thers  died, 
love;             I        love    thy       rocks     and     rills, 
song;            Let     mor  -  tal       tongues    a   -  wake; 
sing;           Long  may     our       land       be     bright 

Uj  1  -^_ 

Land      of       the 
Thy    woods  and 
Let      all       that 
With    free  •  dom's 

r   r  i 

L 

:-  r  r  ' 

LI  p  !  1 

4=  —  '  — 

._a|—  j  —  *  —  ,  — 

nJ  —  jj  r^|~ 

En  ^  —  f  — 

Mi  .   J        1 

1  —  1  Jl 

\y 

Pil  •  grim's  pride  ; 
tern  •  pled    hills  ; 
breathe   par  •  take; 
ho    •     ly     light; 

From    ev  •  Vy 
My      heart  with 
Let     rocks    their 
Pro  -  tect       us 

-9~  3  *  i»    P    9  1  — 
'     1         '    lJ 

noun  •  tain  side,       Let     free  •  dom 
rap    -    ture  thrills,    Like    that      a   - 
si    •    lence  break  —  The  sound    pro  • 
by        Thy  might,      Great  God,  our 

»—•.     • 

ring, 
bove. 
long. 
King. 

PI  T;  f  f  i 

f-    ^  J"3 
-r  —  r  —  r  — 

^-^-^M 

_/>f..    r... 

"f  —  n 

£=!  —  E=E= 

-i  —  i  —  i  — 

_4_  V.  !  

_k  f  j!_ 

~  i  —  L_*  —  (i 

AMERICA— THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

A  New  National  Anthem 
By 

FRANCIS  TREVELYAN  MILLER  and  HENRY  TAYLOR  BLAKE 

(To  be  sung  to  the  tune  "My  Country  'tis  of  Thee" — See  Music  on  Page  19) 


All  hail!     Beloved  Land! 
Our  own  Columbia  grand 

Whose  flag  unfurled 
In  majesty  and  might 
Calls  with  its  starry  light 
To  all  who  love  the  Right 

Throughout  the  world! 

II 

Hark!     From  Atlantic  shores, 
To  where  Pacific  roars 

In  ceaseless  boom; 
From  never-melting  snows, 
To  where  the  orange  grows, 
And  lilies  and  the  rose, 

Forever  bloom. 

Ill 

Hear  ye  the  trampling  hum 
Of  thronging  peoples,  come 

To  bide  with  thee! 
Thy  boundless  plains  to  till, 
Draw  wealth  from  every  hill, 
And  myriad  cities  fill 

With  industry! 

IV 

All!     All,  thy  children  true; 
Whatever  climes  we  knew 

For  Fatherlands, 
To  thee,  our  Mother  now, 
In  loyal  love  we  bow, 
And  pledge  with  joyous  vow 

Our  hearts  and  hands ! 


Thus  Nature  moves  apace 
Building  a  mighty  race 
American/ 


To  form  her  latest  born 
The  varied  brains  and  brawn 
From  all  the  nations  drawn 
She  blends  in  one! 

VI 

O!  Father  of  all  good! 

Grant  that  with  mingling  blood 

And  blending  soul, 
Perfecting  nature's  art, 
Each  nation  may  impart 
Its  noblest  traits  of  heart 

To  crown  the  whole! 

VII 

Our  lives  we  consecrate 

To  Freedom,  Home  and  State 

To  Love  and  Godi 
To  Justice — Liberty; 
To  true  Equality; 
To  all  Humanity — 

World  Brotherhood! 

VIII 

All  hail  the  Age  of  Gold 
When  in  that  perfect  mould 

Peace  reigns  above! 
Valor  and  Truth,  with  awe 
For  Justice  throned  on  law 
Shall  rule  America 

The  Land  we  Love ! 

IX 

And  in  those  glorious  hours 
When  from  their  thrones  all  powers 

Of  Wrong  are  hurled! 
Columbia !     Still  on  high 
Uplift  thy  stars  to  sky! 
Goddess  of  Liberty 

Lighting  the  World! 


20 


AMERICA 


HISTORIAN'S  FOREWORD 


A       MERICA:     The   Land  We   Love"— There   is  no  grander 

/%        epic  than  that  of  a  Hundred  Million  People  gathered  into 

/""^k      one  loyal  nation  pledged  to  the  support  of  the  principles  of 

"^^   democracy  and  working  conscientiously  with  their  hands  and 

intellects,  their  hearts  and  souls,  to  build  a  nation  upon  the  foundation 

stones :     Liberty,  Justice,  Equality.     It  is  the  "Odyssey"  of  a  strong,  virile 

people  that  has  entered  the  world's  arena  not  as  a  conqueror,  but  as  the 

creator  of  a  new  era  toward  which  humanity  has  been  struggling  for  seventy 

centuries. 

The  record  of  such  deeds  and  ideals  is  well  worthy  of  a  Josephus  or  a 
Herodotus.  It  calls  for  a  Thucydides  to  narrate  the  heroic  struggles  of 
such  a  nation,  a  Plutarch  to  relate  the  stories  of  its  great  men,  a  Livy  or 
Sallust  or  Tacitus  to  proclaim  its  grandeur.  Here  on  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere there  has  arisen  a  modern  phoenix  based  on  the  noblest  principles  of 
Christian  Civilization.  Its  ethical  system  is  the  perfected  idealism  of  Plato 
and  Aristotle;  its  laws  are  the  realization  of  the  legislation  of  Solon  and 
Justinian.  Here  we  find  the  sons  and  daughters  of  all  the  peoples  of  the 
earth  gathered  to  create  a  new  nation  dedicated  to  the  service  of  humanity. 

We,  who  live  in  this  second  decade  of  the  Twentieth  Century — the 
most  portentous  period  thus  far  in  the  world's  history — are  witnessing  the 
greatest  social,  economic,  and  political  revolution  in  the  annals  of  man- 
kind. Civilization  is  passing  through  the  crucible;  society  is  undergoing 
a  metamorphosis ;  all  races,  religions,  and  political  systems  are  in  social  con- 
vulsions. Historiologists  who  have  traced  the  laws  of  cause  and  efect 
underlying  these  revolutions — or  more  properly  evolutions — agree  that 
these  crises,  rather  than  being  a  reversion  to  medievalism  or  the  overthrow 
of  organized  government,  are  in  fact  the  birth-throes  of  a  new  period  in 
the  history  of  mankind — the  birth  of  higher  ideals,  more  perfect  systems, 
closer  brotherhood  among  the  peoples  of  the  earth — a  step  toward  a  higher 
state  of  civilization,  which,  like  the  human  race,  is  born  in  blood. 

It  is  well,  therefore,  that  we  as  Americans  linger  over  these  pages  for 
a  few  moments  to  take  inventory  of  our  national  stock,  to  test  our  abilities 
as  a  people,  to  weigh  our  resources,  to  survey  our  country,  and  inspect  the 
structure  of  civilization  that  we  have  built.  This  book  is  an  evaluation 

21 


AMERICA— THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

of  their  achievements — an  exposition  of  the  products  of  their  creation. 
The  conventional  treatment  and  technique  of  the  historian  have  been  set 
aside  in  the  preparation  of  this  book,  and  a  more  democratic  treatment  is 
used  to  enlarge  its  service  and  more  completely  meet  the  needs  of  a  broad 
democracy. 

The  whole  story  of  American  civilization  is  unfolded  in  graphic  nar- 
rative which  will  give  the  reader  a  comprehensive  understanding  at  a 
glance.  The  Editorial  Board  has  considered  it  advisable  to  organize  this 
work  into  Parts. 

It  has  been  deemed  fitting  to  open  this  memorial  volume  with  three 
messages  to  the  American  People  by  the  three  most  Eminent  Americans — 
President  Wilson,  and  former  Presidents  Taft  and  Roosevelt.  These  ex- 
pressions of  staunch  Americanism  are  taken  from  their  public  addresses 
and  form  appropriate  introductories  to  this  book. 

The  literary  pages  of  this  book  (Part  I)  begin  with  a  graphic  descrip- 
tion of  the  United  States — "America  and  the  American  People" — as  they 
exist  to-day;  their  magnitude  and  ideals, — their  fiber  and  character.  The 
reader  then  surveys  in  concise,  visualizing  style,  the  whole  "Story  of  the 
American  People"  from  the  discovery  of  the  Western  Continent,  the  found- 
ing and  development  of  the  American  Nation,  and  the  wonderful  growth 
of  the  American  race — 400  years  of  human  activity.  This  includes  a  sum- 
mary of  "Great  American  Political  Campaigns"  tracing  the  rise  and  fall 
of  the  various  schools  of  economic  thought  as  expressed  through  our  politi- 
cal parties.  From  this  follows  a  clear  interpretation  of  the  "Government 
of  the  United  States"  showing  the  actual  operations  of  its  various 
departments. 

This,  in  itself,  might  be  considered  a  very  good  service  to  the  Ameri- 
can people,  but  we  have  desired  to  make  this  book  more  than  a  history ;  we 
have  undertaken  to  make  it  a  vital  human  record.  It  was  Dionysius  of 
Halicarnassus  who  said:  "History  is  Philosophy  teaching  by  experience." 
But  Carlyle  added  the  vital  touch  when  he  said :  "History,  as  it  lies  at  the 
root  of  all  science,  is  also  the  first  distinct  product  of  man's  spiritual  na- 
ture," remarking  that  "histories  are  as  perfect  as  the  Historian  is  wise,  and 
is  gifted  with  an  eye  and  a  soul."  So  it  is  in  this  volume  that  we  have 
undertaken  to  give  it  an  "eye  and  a  soul."  We  have  taken  the  record  of 
man's  life  in  America  and  endeavored  to  present  the  sum  of  his  achieve- 
ments, with  here  and  there  an  interpretation  of  its  economic  and  sociological 
import. 

Great  Events  are  presented  in  Part  II  of  the  volume.  It  begins  with 
the  story  of  the  "Great  American  Wars" — their  causes  and  results — with 
a  broad  sketch  of  the  battles  and  dramatic  incidents. 

22 


HISTORIAN'S  FOREWORD 

The  American  people  do  not  depend  alone  upon  their  prowess  in  war 
or  their  sagacity  in  politics  as  the  chief  reason  of  their  existence.  They 
are  a  people  with  far  nobler  claims  to  a  physical  and  spiritual  existence. 
Thus,  in  Part  III  of  this  volume  we  survey  our  Great  Achievements,  with  a 
passing  consideration  of  the  Great  American  Discoveries  and  their  con- 
tributions to  Human  Progress  through  the  "Great  American  Inventions" 
proving  that  we  are  indeed  the  most  ingenious  and  inventive  race  in  the 
world's  history.  This  is  followed  by  an  inspiring  chapter  on  "American 
Triumphs  in  Engineering,"  the  building  of  the  Panama  Canal,  great 
bridges,  huge  dams,  tunnels,  subways,  and  similar  achievements. 

A  wise  old  classicist  once  complained  that  "history  makes  haste  to 
record  great  deeds,  but  often  neglects  good  ones."  This  is  indeed  a  just 
criticism,  but  it  is  quite  probable  that  the  good  deeds  are  in  fact  the 
greatest.  The  final  test  of  civilization  is  in  the  strength  of  its  three  foun- 
dations: "Agriculture — Commerce — Industry"  These  are  the  basis  of 
all  permanent  society — the  great  "trinity"  of  civilization.  Hence,  in 
Part  IV  we  have  laid  before  our  readers  the  static  record  of  their  civiliza- 
tion— a  rapid  glance  at  the  Great  American  Industries,  Mines,  Railroads, 
Agriculture,  Manufacturing — and  all  that  represents  the  inventoried  wealth 
and  material  interests  of  a  nation,  with  a  brief  description  of  the  Banking 
System,  and  its  mediums  for  intercommunication  and  mutual  knowledge 
through  the  great  clearing  houses  of  information  and  public  opinion  which 
we  call  the  "Great  American  Newspapers" 

Carlyle  in  his  essays  remarks  that  "history  is  the  essence  of  innumer- 
able biographies."  And  so  in  this  volume  we  have  introduced  in  Part  V 
a  series  of  little  talks  on  "Great  Americans."  In  these  little  fifteen  minute 
conversations  we  have  endeavored  to  discuss  the  essential  phases  of  the 
character  and  work  of  the  American  people — their  Great  Statesmen,  Sol- 
diers, Jurists,  Financiers,  Scientists,  Educators,  Authors,  Artists,  Theolo- 
gians, Composers,  Women — with  now  and  then  a  glimpse  into  the 
psychology  of  human  action.  The  limitations  of  space,  however,  have 
allowed  us  only  to  suggest  the  possibilities  of  further  study  in  this  field  of 
human  equations,  using  only  the  foremost  figures  for  the  purpose  of  "teach- 
ing by  examples." 

The  esthetic  spirit  of  the  American  people  is  given  recognition  in  Part 
VI.  Here  we  cast  a  mental  vision  for  the  "Scenic  Grandeur  of  America" 
and  pass  through  the  "Beautiful  American  Parks."  We  view  the  "Famous 
American  Architecture"  and  visit  the  Historic  American  Shrines,  with  a 
brief  sojourn  in  the  "Great  American  Museums" 

But  this  is  not  all — we  live  in  a  country  so  vast  that  no  man  can  fully 
comprehend  its  broad  expanse,  its  imperial  greatness,  who  has  not  jour- 

23 


AMERICA— THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

neyed  over  its  plains  and  mountains  teeming  with  illimitable  wealth;  it 
is  a  democracy  in  empire.  Alcott  in  one  of  his  essays  truly  says  that 
"travel  makes  all  men  countrymen,  makes  people  noblemen  and  kings, 
every  man  tasting  of  liberty  and  dominion" ;  while  Fuller  gives  this  good 
advice:  "Know  most  of  the  rooms  of  thy  Native  Country  before  thou 
goest  over  the  threshold  thereof."  And  so  we  go  on  a  photographic  series 
of  ''Little  Journeys  Through  the  States"- — forty-eight  journeys  through 
the  States  of  New  England,  the  Eastern  States,  Southern  States,  Middle 
West,  Southwest,  Great  West,  and  the  Pacific  States — with  four  journeys 
into  our  Insular  Possessions — Porto  Rico,  Hawaii,  the  Philippines — and  a 
trip  to  Alaska.  After  our  return  from  these  literary  journeys  we  may 
exclaim  with  Menander,  "Hail,  dear  Country!  I  embrace  thee,  seeing  thee 
after  a  long  time,"  and  with  the  poet,  "O  beautiful  and  grand,  my  own 
my  Native  Land!'* 

The  subject  "America — The  Land  We  Love"  embraces  so  magnifi- 
cent a  field  of  human  action  that  a  library  of  monumental  works  might 
readily  be  erected  under  this  name.  Alas,  we  have  but  one  volume  here 
in  which  to  encompass  half  a  world.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  that  we 
keep  this  volume  as  compact  as  possible — inspiring  the  reader  with  its 
illimitable  possibilities. 

The  material  for  this  volume  has  been  gathered  only  by  exhaustive 
researches  into  more  than  1,500  sources,  including  the  Congressional  Li- 
brary, the  Government  Archives,  the  historical  societies  throughout  the 
States,  and  the  leading  Universities.  I  am  especially  indebted  to  Mr. 
Egbert  Gilliss  Handy,  founder  of  the  Search-Light  Library,  for  the  col- 
lection of  photographic  records;  to  Mr.  W.  T.  Elaine,  as  publisher;  to 
Mr.  E.  D.  Appleton,  who  directed  the  publication,  and  to  the  investigators : 
Mr.  Walter  R.  Bickford,  Mr.  Gabriel  Schlesinger,  Mr.  David  St.  Clair, 
Mr.  Herbert  G.  Wintersgill,  Mr.  Andre  Tridon. 

We  trust  that  the  volume  may  perform  its  humble  service  to  Our 
Country  by  awakening  our  people  individually  to  the  tremendous  respon- 
sibility which  rests  upon  them  and  by  inspiring  them  to  the  essential 
attributes  of  a  democracy — good,  conscientious  citizenship  and  the  un- 
selfish, intelligent  administration  of  government.  In  this  epoch  of  pro- 
gressive Americanism,  we  need  not  pledge  ourselves  to  that  historic  toast 
of  Admiral  Decatur,  "Our  Country!  May  she  always  be  in  the  right, 
but  Our  Country  right  or  wrong!"  Neither  need  we  adopt  that  intense 
patriotism  of  Daniel  Webster:  "Let  our  object  be,  Our  Country,  our 
whole  country,  and  nothing  but  our  country."  But  rather  let  us  adopt 
the  broader  words  of  President  Wilson — the  expression  of  world  vision 
and  world  justice:  "America  for  Humanity!" 

FRANCIS  TREVELYAN  MILLER. 


AMERICA 
THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

*  Message  to  "New  Americans," 

BY  WOODROW  WILSON 


1 


is  the  only  country  in  the  world  which  experiences  constant 
and  repeated  rebirth.  Other  countries  depend  upon  the  multi- 
plication of  their  own  native  people.  This  country  is  con- 
stantly drinking  strength  out  of  new  sources  by  the  voluntary 
association  with  it  of  great  bodies  of  strong  men  and  forward-looking 
women.  And  so  by  the  gift  of  the  free-will  of  independent  people  it  is 
constantly  being  renewed  from  generation  to  generation  by  the  same  proc- 
ess by  which  it  was  originally  created.  It  is  as  if  humanity  had  deter- 
mined to  see  to  it  that  this  great  nation,  founded  for  the  benefit  of 
humanity,  should  not  lack  for  the  allegiance  of  the  people  of  the  world. 
You  have  taken  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States.  Of 
allegiance  to  whom?  Of  allegiance  to  no  one,  unless  it  be  God.  Cer- 
tainly not  of  allegiance  to  those  who  temporarily  represent  this  great 
Government.  You  have  taken  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  a  great  ideal,  to 
a  great  body  of  principles,  to  a  great  hope  of  the  human  race.  You  have 
said,  "We  are  going  to  America,"  not  only  to  earn  a  living,  not  only  to 
seek  the  things  which  it  was  more  difficult  to  obtain  where  you  were  born, 
but  to  help  forward  the  great  enterprises  of  the  human  spirit — to  let  men 
know  that  everywhere  in  the  world  there  are  men  who  will  cross  strange 
oceans  and  go  where  a  speech  is  spoken  which  is  alien  to  them,  knowing 
that,  whatever  the  speech,  there  is  but  one  longing  and  utterance  of  the 
human  heart,  and  that  is  for  liberty  and  justice. 

And  while  you  bring  all  countries  with  you,  you  come  with  a  purpose 
of  leaving  all  other  countries  behind  you — bringing  what  is  best  of  their 
spirit,  but  not  looking  over  your  shoulders  and  seeking  to  perpetuate 
what  you  intended  to  leave  in  them.  I  certainly  would  not  be  one  even 
to  suggest  that  a  man  cease  to  love  the  home  of  his  birth  and  the  nation 
of  his  origin — these  things  are  very  sacred  and  ought  not  to  be  put  out  of 
our  hearts — but  it  is  one  thing  to  love  the  place  where  you  were  born  and 
it  is  another  thing  to  dedicate  yourself  to  the  place  to  which  you  go.  You 
cannot  dedicate  yourself  to  America  unless  you  become  in  every  respect  and 

•  Historic  Address  by  President  Wilson  delivered  to  New  Citizens  in  Philadelphia  directly  after  their 
•aturalization,  in  which  they  swore  allegiance  to  the  United  States. 


AMERICA— THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

with  every  purpose  of  your  will  thorough  Americans.  You  cannot  be- 
come thorough  Americans  if  you  think  of  yourselves  in  groups.  America 
does  not  consist  of  groups.  A  man  who  thinks  himself  as  belonging  to  a 
particular  national  group  in  America  has  not  yet  become  an  American,  and 
the  man  who  goes  among  you  to  trade  upon  your  nationality  is  no  worthy 
son  to  live  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 

My  urgent  advice  to  you  is  not  only  always  to  think  first  of  America, 
but  always,  also,  to  think  first  of  humanity.  You  do  not  love  humanity 
if  you  seek  to  divide  humanity  into  jealous  camps.  Humanity  can  be 
welded  together  only  by  love,  by  sympathy,  by  justice,  not  by  jealousy 
and  hatred.  I  am  sorry  for  the  man  who  seeks  to  make  personal  capital 
out  of  the  passions  of  his  fellow-men.  He  has  lost  the  touch  and  ideal 
to  unite  mankind  by  those  passions  which  lift  and  not  by  the  passions  which 
separate  and  debase. 

We  came  to  America,  either  ourselves  or  in  persons  of  our  ancestors, 
to  better  the  ideals  of  men,  to  make  them  see  finer  things  than  they  had 
seen  before,  to  get  rid  of  things  that  divide,  and  to  make  sure  of  the  things 
that  united.  It  was  but  an  historical  accident  no  doubt  that  this  great 
country  was  called  the  "United  States,"  and  yet  I  am  very  thankful  that 
it  has  the  word  "united"  in  its  title;  and  the  man  who  seeks  to  divide  man 
from  man,  group  from  group,  interest  from  interest,  in  the  United  States 
is  striking  at  its  very  heart. 

It  is  a  very  interesting  circumstance  to  me,  in  thinking  of  those  of  you 
who  have  sworn  allegiance  to  this  great  Government,  that  you  were  drawn 
across  the  ocean  by  some  beckoning  finger  of  hope,  by  some  belief,  by 
some  vision  of  a  new  kind  of  justice,  by  some  expectation  of  a  better  kind 
of  life.  No  doubt  you  have  been  disappointed  in  some  of  us;  some  of 
us  are  very  disappointing.  No  doubt  you  have  found  that  justice  in  the 
United  States  goes  only  with  a  pure  heart  and  a  right  purpose,  as  it  does 
everywhere  else  in  the  world.  No  doubt  what  you  found  here  did  not 
seem  touched  for  you,  after  all,  with  the  complete  beauty  of  the  ideal 
which  you  had  conceived  beforehand.  But  remember  this,  if  we  had 
grown  at  all  poor  in  the  ideal,  you  brought  some  of  it  with  you.  A  man 
does  not  go  out  to  seek  the  thing  that  is  not  in  him.  A  man  does  not  hope 
for  the  thing  that  he  does  not  believe  in,  and  if  some  of  us  have  forgotten 
what  America  believed  in,  you,  at  any  rate,  imported  in  your  own  hearts 
a  renewal  of  the  belief. 

I  was  born  in  America.  You  dreamed  dreams  of  what  America  was 
to  be,  and  I  hope  you  brought  the  dreams  with  you.  No  man  that  does 
not  see  visions  will  ever  realize  any  high  hope  or  undertake  any  high  enter- 
prise. Just  because  you  brought  dreams  with  you,  America  is  more  likely 

20 


BIRTHPLACE     OF     DECLARATION     OF     INI  >K1'KNI  )KXCK  —Historic     Independence     Hall     in 

Philadephiu — Here     the     Continental     Congress     held     its     sessions ;     Washington     was 

appointed  commander-in-chlef  of  armies — Constitution  of  United  States  was  framed. 


"AMERICA— THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD" 

to  realize  the  dreams  such  as  you  brought.  You  are  enriching  us  if  you 
came  expecting  us  to  be  better  than  we  are. 

See,  my  friends,  what  that  means.  It  means  that  Americans  must 
have  a  consciousness  different  from  the  consciousness  of  every  other  nation 
in  the  world.  I  am  not  saying  this  with  even  the  slightest  thought  of 
criticism  of  other  nations.  You  know  how  it  is  with  a  family.  A  family 
gets  centered  on  itself  if  it  is  not  careful  and  is  less  interested  in  the  neigh- 
bors than  it  is  in  its  own  members.  So  a  nation  that  is  not  constantly 
renewed  out  of  new  sources  is  apt  to  have  the  narrowness  and  prejudice 
of  a  family.  Whereas,  America  must  have  this  consciousness,  that  on  all 
sides  it  touches  elbows  and  touches  hearts  with  all  the  nations  of  mankind. 

The  example  of  America  must  be  a  special  example.  The  example 
of  America  must  be  the  example  not  merely  of  peace  because  it  will  not 
fight,  but  of  peace  because  peace  is  the  healing  and  elevating  influence  of 
the  world  and  strife  is  not.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  man  being  too 
proud  to  fight.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  nation  being  so  right  that  it 
does  not  need  to  convince  others  by  force  that  it  is  right. 

So,  if  you  come  into  this  great  nation,  as  you  have  come,  voluntarily 
seeking  something  that  we  have  to  give,  all  that  we  have  to  give  is  this: 
We  cannot  exempt  you  from  work.  No  man  is  exempt  from  work  any- 
where in  the  world.  I  sometimes  think  he  is  fortunate  if  he  has  to  work 
only  with  his  hands  and  not  with  his  head.  It  is  very  easy  to  do  what 
other  people  give  you  to  do,  but  it  is  very  difficult  to  give  other  people 
things  to  do.  We  cannot  exempt  you  from  work;  we  cannot  exempt  you 
from  the  strife  and  the  heart-breaking  burden  of  the  struggle  of  the  day — 
that  is  common  to  mankind  everywhere.  We  cannot  exempt  you  from  the 
loads  that  you  must  carry;  we  can  only  make  them  light  by  the  spirit  in 
which  they  are  carried.  That  is  the  spirit  of  hope,  it  is  the  spirit  of  lib- 
erty, it  is  the  spirit  of  justice. 

I  like  to  come  and  stand  in  the  presence  of  a  great  body  of  my  fellow- 
citizens,  whether  they  have  been  my  fellow-citizens  a  long  time  or  a  short 
time,  and  drink,  as  it  were,  out  of  the  common  fountains  with  them  and 
go  back  feeling  that  you  have  so  generously  given  me  the  sense  of  your 
support  and  of  the  living  vitality  in  your  hearts,  of  its  great  ideals  which 
make  America  the  hope  of  the  world. 

— WOODROW  WILSON. 


29 


AMERICAN  LIBERTY 
THE  STABILITY  OF  FREEDOM 


*  Message  to  the  American  People 

BY  WILLIAM  HOWARD  TAFT 

President  of  the  United  States  (1909-1913) 

* 

IF  we  would  stand  on  solid  and  safe  ground  we  must  re-examine  the 
fundamental  principles  of  stable  popular  government.  The  history 
of  the  world  seems  to  show  that  our  form  of  government  is  more  en- 
during and  satisfactory  than  any  other.  We  began  as  a  small  Union 
of  thirteen  states,  strung  along  the  Atlantic  Coast,  of  three  millions  of 
people,  and  under  the  same  Constitution  we  have  enlarged  to  be  a  world 
power  of  forty-eight  sovereign  states,  bound  into  one ;  of  more  than  ninety 
millions  of  people,  and  with  a  humane  guardianship  of  ten  millions  more 
— nine  in  the  Pacific  and  one  in  the  Atlantic.  We  have  fought,  begin- 
ning with  the  Revolution,  four  foreign  wars,  and  we  have  survived  a  civil 
war  of  the  greatest  proportions  recorded  in  history,  and  have  united  the 
battling  sections  by  an  indissoluble  tie.  From  our  body  politic  we  have 
excised  the  cancer  of  slavery,  the  only  thing  protected  by  the  Constitu- 
tion which  was  inconsistent  with  that  liberty,  the  preservation  of  which 
was  the  main  purpose  of  establishing  the  Union.  We  have  increased  our 
business  and  productive  activities  in  every  direction;  we  have  expanded 
the  development  of  our  natural  resources  to  be  continent-wide,  and  all  the 
time  we  have  maintained  sacred  those  inalienable  rights  of  man,  the  right 
of  liberty,  the  right  of  private  property  and  the  right  to  the  pursuit  of 
happiness. 

For  these  reasons  we  believe  in  popular  government.  Government 
is  a  human  instrumentality  to  secure  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  num- 
ber and  the  greatest  happiness  to  the  individual.  Experience,  and  espe- 
cially the  growth  of  popular  government  in  our  own  history,  has  shown 
that  in  the  long  run  every  class  of  the  people,  and  by  that  I  mean  those 
similarly  situated,  are  better  able  to  secure  attention  to  their  welfare  than 
any  other  class,  however  altruistic  the  latter  class  may  be.  Of  course 
this  assumes  that  the  members  of  the  class  have  reasonable  intelligence  and 
capacity  for  knowing  their  own  rights  and  interest. 

Hence  it  follows  that  the  best  government,  in  the  sense  of  the  gov- 
ernment most  certain  to  provide  for  and  protect  the  rights  and  govern- 

*  Excerpt   from   Address    delivered   by   President   Taft   on   the   "Judiciary   and    Progress"    at   Toledo, 
Ohio. 

30 


AMERICAN  LIBERITY— STABILITY  OF  FREEDOM 

mental  needs  of  every  class,  is  that  one  in  which  every  class  has  a  voice. 
In  recognition  of  this,  the  tendency  from  earliest  times  in  our  history  has 
been  the  enlargement  of  the  electorate  to  include  in  the  ultimate  source 
of  governmental  power  as  many  as  possible  of  those  governed.  But  even 
to-day  the  electorate  is  not  more  in  number  than  one-fourth  of  the  total 
number  of  those  who  are  citizens  of  the  nation  and  are  the  people  for 
whom  the  government  is  maintained  and  whose  rights  and  happiness  the 
government  is  intended  to  secure.  More  than  this,  government  by  unan- 
imous vote  of  the  electorate  is  impossible,  and  therefore  the  majority  of 
the  electorate  must  rule. 

We  find,  therefore,  that  government  by  the  people  is,  under  our 
present  system,  government  by  a  majority  of  one-fourth  of  those  whose 
rights  and  happiness  are  to  be  affected  by  the  course  and  conduct  of 
the  government.  This  is  the  nearest  to  a  government  by  the  whole  people 
we  have  ever  had.  Woman's  suffrage  will  change  this,  and  it  is  doubtless 
coming  as  soon  as  the  electorate  can  be  certain  that  most  women  desire  it 
and  will  assume  its  burden  and  responsibility.  But  even  then  the  elec- 
torate will  only  be  part  of  the  whole  people.  In  other  words,  the  electo- 
rate is  a  representative  governing  body  for  the  whole  people  for  which 
the  government  was  established,  and  the  controlling  majority  of  the  elec- 
torate is  a  body  still  less  numerous. 

It  is  thus  apparent  that  ours  is  a  government  of  all  the  people  by 
a  representative  part  of  the  people.  The  object  of  government  is  not  only 
to  secure  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number,  but  also  to  do  this  as 
near  as  may  be  by  securing  the  rights  of  each  individual  in  his  liberty, 
property  and  pursuit  of  happiness. 

Hence  it  was  long  ago  recognized  that  the  direct  action  of  a  tem- 
porary majority  of  the  existing  electorate  must  be  limited  by  fundamental 
law;  that  is,  by  a  constitution  intended  to  protect  the  individual  and  the 
minority  of  the  electorate  and  the  non- voting  majority  of  the  people 
against  the  unjust  or  arbitrary  action  of  the  majority  of  the  electorate. 

This  made  it  necessary  to  introduce  into  the  Constitution  certain  dec- 
larations as  to  the  rights  of  the  individual  which  it  was  the  purpose  of 
the  whole  people  to  maintain  through  the  government  against  the  aggres- 
sion of  any  temporary  majority  of  the  electorate  and  to  provide  in  the 
same  instrument  certain  procedure  by  which  the  individual  might  assert 
and  vindicate  those  rights.  Then,  to  protect  against  the  momentary  im- 
pulse of  a  temporary  majority  of  the  electorate  to  change  the  fundamental 
law  and  deprive  the  individual  or  the  voting  minority  or  the  non-voting 
majority  of  inalienable  rights,  the  Constitution  provided  a  number  of 
checks  and  balances  whereby  every  amendment  to  the  Constitution  must 

31 


AMERICA— THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

be  adopted  under  forms  and  with  delays  that  are  intended  to  secure  much 
deliberation  on  the  part  of  the  electorate  in  adopting  such  amendments. 
I  cannot  state  the  necessity  for  maintaining  the  checks  and  balances  in 
a  constitution  to  secure  the  guarantee  of  individual  rights  and  well  ordered 
liberty  better  than  by  quoting  from  Daniel  Webster.  He  said : 

The  first  object  of  a  free  people  is  the  preservation  of  their  liberty;  and  liberty  is  only 
to  be  preserved  by  maintaining  constitutional  restraints  and  just  divisions  of  political  power. 
Nothing  is  more  deceptive  or  more  dangerous  than  the  pretence  of  a  desire  to  simplify  gov- 
ernment The  simplest  governments  are  despotisms ;  the  next  simplest,  limited  monarchies ; 
but  all  republics,  all  governments  of  law,  must  impose  numerous  limitations  and  qualifications 
of  authority  and  give  many  positive  and  many  qualified  rights.  In  other  words,  they  must  be 
subject  to  rule  and  regulation.  This  is  the  very  essence  of  free  political  institutions.  The 
spirit  of  liberty  is,  indeed,  a  bold  and  fearless  spirit ;  but  it  is  also  a  sharp-sighted  spirit ;  it  is  a 
cautious,  sagacious,  discriminating,  farseeing  intelligence;  it  is  jealous  of  encroachment, 
jealous  of  power,  jealous  of  man.  It  demands  checks;  it  seeks  for  guards;  it  insists  on  se- 
curities; it  intrenches  itself  behind  strong  defences  and  fortifies  itself  with  all  possible  care 
against  the  assaults  of  ambition  and  passion.  It  does  not  trust  the  amiable  weaknesses  of 
human  nature,  and  therefore  it  will  not  permit  power  to  overstep  its  prescribed  limits,  though 
benevolence,  good  intent  and  patriotic  purpose  come  along  with  it.  Neither  does  it  satisfy 
itself  with  flashy  and  temporary  resistance  to  illegal  authority.  Far  otherwise.  It  seeks  for 
duration  and  permanence.  It  looks  before  and  after;  and,  building  on  the  experience  of  ages 
which  are  past,  it  labors  diligently  for  the  benefit  of  ages  to  come.  This  is  the  nature  of 
constitutional  liberty;  and  this  is  our  liberty,  if  we  will  rightly  understand  and  preserve  it. 

I  agree  that  we  are  making  progress  and  ought  to  make  progress  in  the 
shaping  of  governmental  actions  to  secure  greater  equality  of  opportunity, 
to  destroy  the  undue  advantage  of  special  privilege  and  of  due  advantage 
of  special  privilege  and  of  accumulated  capital,  and  to  remove  obstruc- 
tions to  the  pursuit  of  human  happinesss;  and  in  working  out  these  diffi- 
cult problems  we  may  possibly  have,  from  time  to  time,  to  limit  or  nar- 
row the  breadth  of  constitutional  guarantees  in  respect  of  property  by 
amendment. 

But  if  we  do  it,  let  us  do  it  deliberately,  understanding  what  we  are 
doing,  and  with  full  consideration  and  clear  weighing  of  what  we  are  giv- 
ing up  of  private  right  for  the  general  welfare.  Let  us  do  it  under  cir- 
cumstances which  shall  make  the  operation  of  the  change  uniform  and  just, 
and  not  depend  on  the  feverish,  uncertain  and  unstable  determination  of 
successive  votes  on  different  laws  by  temporary  and  changing  majorities. 

— WILLIAM  HOWARD  TAFT. 


32 


GREAT   AMERICAN   POLITICAL   CAMPAIGNS— National    politics   arc  separated   into  groups  of 
political  thought — Those  parties  appeal  to  the, people  for  support  at  the  various  elections 
Photograph    was    taken    during    Republican    Convention    in    Chicago. 


NOMINATING   A    CANDIDATE    FOR    PRESIDENT — This   is   a   glimpse   of  the   Democratic   Con- 
vention  at    Baltimore  when    Wood  row    Wilson   was    nominated — The   delegates   to   these 
conventions  gathered  from  every  State  In  the  Union  to  select  the  standard,  bearer. 


AMERICAN  IDEALS 
LIBERTY— JUSTICE— EQUALITY 


*  Message  to  the  American  Nations 

BY  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

President  of  the  United  States  (1901-1909) 

EVERY  great  modern  civilized  state,  every  state  of  vast  industrial 
possibilities  is  faced  with  very  complex  needs.  In  grappling 
with  American  problems  the  average  man  is  apt  to  pin  his  faith 
to  half  truths.  In  certain  cases  the  ordinarily  accepted  ideal 
and  the  ordinary  practice  are  diametrically  opposed  to  each  other.  The 
most  striking  example  of  this  kind  is  the  contrast  between  our  avowed 
ideals  and  our  customary  practices  in  regard  to  property,  wealth  and 
riches.  Many  closet  philosophers  and  many  demagogues  sneer  at  material 
wealth  and  advocate  as  a  matter  of  theory  complete  disregard  of  it;  and 
this  is  the  position  taken,  purely  as  a  matter  of  theory,  by  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  men  who  speak  of  wealth  from  the  pulpit  or  the  rostrum. 
In  practice  a  very  much  larger  number  of  men  make  wealth  their  god  and 
pay  no  heed  to  any  moral  laws  that  bar  the  way  to  its  acquisition.  Here 
each  side  has  seized  a  half  truth  which,  by  itself,  spells  destruction;  the 
theory  represents  hypocrisy  and  the  practice  represents  a  base  and  degrad- 
ing materialism. 

Speaking  generally,  it  is  true  now  as  it  was  true  in  the  days  of  the 
Hebrew  seer,  that  the  most  useful  citizen  is  apt  to  be  the  man  who  is 
neither  bowed  by  grinding  poverty,  nor  rendered  arrogant  by  excessive 
wealth.  Normally  a  man  must  earn  enough  to  support  himself  and  those 
dependent  upon  him  in  reasonable  comfort  before  he  can  be  of  use  to  the 
community  at  large.  In  the  same  way  the  community  itself  must  pos- 
sess a  reasonable  average  of  material  well  being  before  it  can  take  its  part 
in  advancing  the  great  movements  which  make  all  that  is  worth  having 
in  our  modern  civilization. 

Therefore,  it  is  essential  that  there  shall  be  material  prosperity  in 
the  State,  that  railroads  shall  be  built,  that  ranches  and  farms,  business 
houses  and  factories,  shall  prosper.  To  rail  at  such  prosperity  is  not  evi- 
dence of  a  sound  heart.  It  is  merely  evidence  of  an  unsound  head.  En- 
tirely unregulated  and  uncontrolled  individualism  under  the  conditions 
of  modern  industrialism  would  lead  to  a  condition  of  anarchy,  injustice 
and  misery  as  frightful  as  the  condition  of  anarchy,  injustice  and  misery 

*  Excerpt   from   Address   delivered   by   President    Roosevelt   in   Buenos   Ayres,   Argentine. 

35 


AMERICA— THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

produced  by  the  unchecked  military  individualism  of  the  robber  baronage 
in  the  dark  ages.  Moreover,  this  unchecked  individualism  would  destroy 
itself.  .  .  . 

We  wish  to  destroy  neither  collectivism  nor  individualism.  We  wish 
to  use  so  much  of  collectivism  as  will  form  the  best  basis  for  an  altru- 
istic individualism;  an  individualism  which  is  self-reliant  but  which 
heartily  respects  the  rights  of  others.  In  the  industrial  world  this  means 
that  there  are  some  things  that  the  State  can  do  which  the  individual 
should  not  be  permitted  to  do;  some  things  which  should  be  left  to  uncon- 
trolled individual  action  and  some  things  which  should  be  left  to  indi- 
vidual action  exercised  under  strict  governmental  control.  Where  the  line 
should  be  drawn  in  any  case  is  a  mere  matter  of  expediency. 

It  is  the  business  of  the  State  to  secure  a  measurable  equality  of 
opportunity  so  that  each  man  shall  have  the  chance  to  show  the  stuff 
there  is  in  him.  Each  man  should  have  what  he  earns  and  should  not 
have  what  any  one  else  earns.  There  is  wide  inequality  of  capacity  and 
character  among  men;  and  therefore  it  is  wise  and  just  that  there  should 
be  inequality  of  reward,  because  the  reward  should  bear  some  proportion 
to  the  service  rendered. 

At  present  in  the  world  of  industry  the  difference  in  the  reward  of  the 
man  at  the  top  and  the  man  lower  down  is  often  well  nigh  infinite,  and 
represents  a  travesty  upon  justice.  And  moreover  the  difference  between 
the  reward  given  the  man  who. merely  handles  the  money  and  the  reward 
given  the  man  who  actually  handles  the  men  and  machinery  is  wholly 
disproportionate  to  the  difference  of  service.  We  propose  sanely  and  cau- 
tiously but  resolutely  to  strive  to  reduce  this  inequality  and  to  bring  about 
a  condition  of  affairs  more  nearly  corresponding  to  justice.  As  I  have 
before  said,  we  agree  with  the  seer  of  old  that  the  best  ideal  for  a  man 
is  neither  to  suffer  grinding  poverty  nor  to  possess  excessive  riches.  .  .  . 

We  do  not  intend  to  destroy  property.  We  intend  to  protect  prop- 
erty. But  we  intend  to  strive  for  a  juster  and  fairer  correspondence 
between  the  possession  of  property  and  the  service,  whether  of  mind  or  of 
body,  which  warrants  such  possession. 

Men  of  valiant  soul  must  be  the  lords  and  not  the  servants  of  what 
they  have  themselves  created.  As  long  as  strength  is  given  us  with  cool 
heads  and  fearless  hearts  we  shall  war  unceasingly  against  what  is  evil 
and  for  what  is  good,  so  as  to  bring  nearer  the  day  when  justice  shall  be 
done  every  man,  every  woman  and  every  child  within  the  borders  of  the 
great  free  commonwealths  to  which  we  belong. 

— THEODORE  ROOSEVELT. 
3C 


THE  STAR-SPANGLED  BANNER. 

FRANCIS  SCOTT  KEY. 


SOLO  OR  QUARTET. 


1814. 


i 


say,  can   you  see,    by  the  dawn's  ear 

2.  On  the  shore  dim  -ly   seen  thro'  the  mists  of 

3.  And  where  is 

4.  Oh, 


ly   light,  What  so  proud  -ly    we  haH'd 
the  deep,  Where  the  foe's  haughty  host 


here  is     that  band  who  so  vaunt-ing  -   ly  swore.That  the  hav  -  oc    of    war 
thus   be     it      ev  •   er  when  free-men  shall  stand  Be   -    tween  their  loved  home 


at   the 
in  dread 
and  the 
and  wild 


3 


m 


i 


?: 


rpf 


twi-light's  last£leaming,Whose  broad  stripes  and  bright  stars,thro'  the  per  -  il  -  ous  fight,  O'er  the 
si  -  lence  re  -  po  -  ses,  What   is    that  which  the  oreeze.o'er  the    tow  -  er  -   ing  steep,  As   it 
bat  -tie's   con-fu  -  sion,    A  ...    home  and     a     coun  -  try  should  leave  us 
war's  des  -  o  -  la  •  tion  ;  Blest  with  vie  •  fry     and  peace,  may  the  heav'n-res 


no  more?  Their 
cued  land  Praise  the 


*~  1  •  '17 

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ram-parts  we  watch'd,were  so   gal  -  lant  •  ly  stream-ing?  And  the  rock  -  ets'    red  glare, the  bombs 
fit  -ful-ly    blows,  half  con-ceals,  half    dis-clos  -  esr    Now  it   catch  -es      the  gleam  of    the 
blood  has  wash'd  out  their  foul  foot  -  steps'pol  -  lu  -  tion.     No         ref  -  uge  could  save    the 
pow'r  that  hath  made  and  prc-serv'd   us      a     na  -  tion !    Then     con  -  quer  we  must,  when  our 


burst-ing  in     air,    Gave   proof  thro'the  night  that  our  flag  was  still  there.      Oh,  say.does  that 

morn-ing's  first  beam, In   f  ull  glo  -  ry  re  -  fleet  -  ed,now  shines  on  the  stream : 'Tis  the  star-spangled 

hire-ling  and  slave  From  the  ter  -  ror  of  flight  or    the  gloom  of  the  grave :  And  the  star-spangled 

cause  it     is    just,   And       this     be  our  mot  -  to :  "In  God  i».  our  trust  T'And  the  star-spangled 


star  -span-gled  ban  -  ner    yet 
ban-  ner:  oh,  long  may  it 
ban  -  ner     in     tri  -  umph  doth 
ban-  ner     in     tri  -  umph  shall 


wave  O'er  the  land 
wave  O'er  the  land 
wave  O'er  the  land 
wave  O'er  the  land 


of 
of 
of 
of 


the 
the 
the 
the 


free,  and  the  home  of  the  brave! 

free,  and  the  home  of  the  brave, 

free,  and  the  home  of  the  brave, 

free,  and  the  home  of  the  brave. 


AMERICA— INSPIRING  TRIBUTES 

AMERICA  is  like  a  great  sleeping  giant — with  its  head  at  the  North 
Pole   and   its   feet  at   the   South   Pole.     Its   arms   stretch   from   the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.     Here  it  slumbered   through  the  geological 
ages.     Four  hundred  years  ago  men  came  like  pigmies  and  ran  over 
its  huge  body ;  meeting  in  deadly  combat  on  its  breast ;  lifting  the  lids  of  slum- 
bering eyes  and  peering  into  their  depths;  putting  their  ears  to  the  huge  heart 
and  listening  to  its  mighty  beats  like  the  hammer  stroke  on  the  anvil.     Its 
breath  is  like  the  tornadoes;  its  nostrils  are  great  caverns  leading  into  the 
recesses  of  life;  its  lips  are  strong  and  decisive,  and  in  its  voice  there  is  the 
prophecy  of  the  future  of  man. 

One  hundred  and  forty  years  ago  the  huge  giant  moved;  he  opened  his 
eyes  and  became  conscious  of  his  existence ;  soon  he  began  to  stretch  his  limbs ; 
he  broke  the  bonds  that  held  him  down. 

Through  the  Nineteenth  Century,  he  struggled  to  his  feet;  he  rose  in  his 
might  to  a  standing  posture ;  he  tested  his  huge  muscles  like  Vulcan  and  there 
was  born  a  new  iron  age;  he  swept  the  fields  like  Ceres  and  they  burst  into 
harvest;  he  wielded  the  ax  like  Ajax  and  the  forests  fell  and  were  transformed 
into  great  cities;  he  swept  the  rivers  and  seas  like  Neptune  and  they  became 
great  channels  of  commerce.  Like  Argus,  he  had  a  hundred  eyes  that  delved 
into  the  mysteries  of  the  Universe ;  he  pulled  the  lightning  from  the  skies ;  he 
flashed  messages  around  the  earth;  he  turned  night  into  day.  He  arose  and 
stands  to-day  like  Atlas  supporting  the  world  on  his  shoulders.  This  is  Amer- 
ica— the  land  which  in  the  next  generations  is  to  be  the  dynamic  force  behind 
civilization. — FRANCIS  TREVELYAN  MILLER. 


THERE  she  lies,  the  great  melting  pot.    Listen!    Can't  you  hear  the 
roaring  and  the  bubbling?     There   gapes   her  mouth — the  harbors 
where  a  thousand  mammoth  feeders  come  from  the  ends  of  the  world 
to  pour  in  their  human  freight.     Ah,  what  a  stirring  and  a  seeth- 
ing.    Celt  and  Latin,  Slav  and  Teuton,  Greek  and  Syrian,  black  and  yellow, 
Jew  and  Gentile.     Yes !     East  and  West,  the  palm  and  the  pine,  the  pole  and 
the  Equator,  the  crescent  and  the  cross,  how  the  great  alchemist  melts  and  fuses 
them  with  his  purging*  flame !     Here  shall  they  all  unite  to  build  the  Republic 
of  Man  and  the  Kingdom  of  God.     Ah,  what  is  the  glory  to  come  .  .  .  where 
all  nations  and  races  come  to  worship  and  look  back  compared  with  America 
where  all  races  and  nations  come  to  labor  and  Look  Forward! 

— ISRAEL  ZANOWILL. 


38 


EXECUTIVE    OFFICES    OF    THE    AMERICAN    NATION — Administration    Building    on    White 

House  grounds  in  Washington — It  is  here  that  the  executive  staff  conducts 

the  public  and  private  business  of  the  President. 


SCKNK   OK    MANY    HISTORIC   HALLS — East   room   in   the  White   House   at  Washington— Here 

the  ambassadors  of  the  nations  and  tin-  world's  greatest  celebrities  have 

gathered  in  brilliant  throngs  in  this  magnificent  room. 


HISTORIC  OLD  WHITE  HOUSE  AT  WASHINGTON — This  imposing  structure  was  begun  in  l~U'2 — First  occu- 
pied by   Pros  id  en  t  Adams  in   1*00 — It  was  burned   hy    the    British    in    1M4    and    re-built    four    years 
later — The  structure  is  170  feet  long,  80  feet  deep,  and  two  stories  in  height. 


OFFICIAL  RESIDENCE  OF  PRESIDENT  OF  UNITED  STATUS— \\'o  enter  the  colonial   mansion   throuj 
Ionic  portico — Among  the  reception  rooms  on  the  first  floor  are  the  Blue  Room  used  for  diplomatic 
functions  ;  the  East  Room  used  for  public  receptions,  and  the  Red  and  Green  Rooms. 


HIGHEST   r.riLDIN<;    IN  Till-:  WORLD— Wool-worth   r.uildiiiK  in   New   York   City—It  towers 
stories  high — These  modern  skyscrapers  contain  as  ninny  people  as  many  flourishing  towns 
— Structures  rise  from  t:-n  to  twenty  stories  in  nearly  all  l:ir<'e  cities  of  United  States. 


CHAPTER  I 


AMERICA 
AND  THE  AMERICANS 


"We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all  men  are  created  equal ; 
that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  unalienable  rights ;  that 
among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 


A 


44  A  MERICA  for  Humanity" — This  is  the  key-note  of  the  Amer- 
ica and  the  Americanism  that  stands  before  the  world  to-day 
as  the  champion  of  the  new  era  of  World  Democracy — 
Liberty,  Justice  and  Equality  for  the  peoples  of  the  earth. 
There  are  in  the  great  human  family  to-day  nearly  2,000,000,000 
people.  They  are  divided  into  about  seventy  groups  or  nations — each 
working  out  its  own  form  of  government  and  its  own  social  and  eco- 
nomic system — the  success  or  failure  of  which  fixes  the  individual  des- 
tiny of  each  nation.  There  is  among  them,  with  their  diverse  and 
conflicting  interests,  but  one  nation  that  is  founded  from  its  origin  on 
the  rock-bed  of  Democracy  and  which  stands  to-day,  and  always  has  stood, 
for  world  brotherhood — pledged  to  the  principle  that  "government  of  the 
people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth." 

It  is  in  the  new  light  of  this  high  standard  of  "America  for  Human- 
ity" that  we  open  the  pages  of  this  narrative  of  the  American  people  with 
a  brief  exposition  of  Our  Country — its  magnitude,  its  ideals,  its  history 
and  government,  with  an  inspiring  vision  of  its  tremendous  possibilities. 
Its  true  power,  its  real  purpose,  and  unmistakable  destiny  loom  upon  the 
horizon  of  the  nations  as  the  greatest  discovery  of  the  human  race  in  its 
entire  annals. 

It  is  freely  predicted — not  only  in  the  United  States  but  by  the  most 
far-sighted  men  in  Europe — that  within  the  present  century  America  will 
economically,  morally  and  spiritually  instill  a  new  spirit  into  the  world 
that  will  exert  a  stronger  power  to  an  infinitely  greater  degree  than  that 
by  which  Greece  intellectually  dominated  the  mind  of  the  race,  or  the 
Roman  Empire  ever  legally  swayed  the  conduct  of  men,  or  by  which 
the  British  Empire  commercially  stamped  its  fiat  on  the  world's  trade. 
Within  that  brief  time,  to  come  within  the  actual  experience  of  many  of 
the  people  now  living,  America  will  become  not  only  the  greatest  and 
most  powerful  nation  ever  conceived  and  brought  forth  on  this  earth  by 

43 


AMERICA— THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

sheer  moral  and  economic  pressure,  but  it  will  give  the  marching  order  to 
the  world — and  that  marching  word  will  be  "humanity."  War  or  peace 
for  the  world  will  be  held  eventually  in  the  hollow  of  America's  giant  hand. 

What  a  monumental  prophecy  to  confront  the  reader  in  the  outset 
in  these  pages!  Is  there  any  foundation  for  it*?  Or  is  it  nothing  more 
than  the  revival  of  the  outbursts  of  pride  that  were  common  in  1800, 
1830,  and  1850  and  later?  Its  basis  is  facts — real  and  tangible,  as 
we  shall  see  in  this  survey  of  the  achievements  of  the  American  people. 
Every  man  with  an  understanding  of  history  cannot  help  but  see  what  is 
to  be.  What  is  America  for1?  Why  was  this  greatest  continent  in  the 
temperate  zone  flung  up  from  the  floor  of  the  ocean,  far  from  Europe 
with  its  multitude  of  races  and  tongues,  and  far  from  Asia  with  its  color 
and  interminable  gulf  of  races?  Spread  a  map  before  you,  turn  these1 
pages,  and  look  at  our  home.  Hear  the  thunder  of  the  surf  from  the 
earth's  two  great  seas  on  our  shores.  Look  at  the  men  mingling — white 
faces,  yellow  faces,  red  faces — brown  faces,  black  faces — every  son  of 
the  earth.  Listen  to  their  speech;  store  in  your  memory  its  melody;  fill 
your  soul  with  its  inspiration. 

The  American  Continent  was  created  for  the  sole,  supreme  purpose 
of  making  a  definite,  permanent  beginning  of  the  uniting  of  representa- 
tives of  all  the  human  races  on  this  earth  into  one  nation.  It  was  set 
apart  from  the  other  continents  to  protect  this  work  from  invasion  and 
interruption.  It  was  abundantly  furnished  with  every  gift  of  nature  to 
carry  out  this  supreme  purpose.  The  Indians  came  here  savage;  the 
world  was  not  ready  for  the  beginning  of  work.  The  Norsemen  came  here 
900  years  ago  to  leave  only  a  tradition;  the  world  was  still  unready.  But 
with  the  close  of  the  dark  ages  in  Europe,  some  four  hundred  years  ago, 
the  clock  of  destiny  struck  the  beginning  hour  for  the  uniting  of  all  the 
races.  Then  there  were  guided  to  this  continent  the  representatives  of  the 
foremost  race  of  men  at  that  time.  There  was  no  accident  in  it — it  was 
nothing  less  than  the  greatest  movement  in  the  historical  procession  of 
evolution. 

The  discovery,  settlement  and  development  of  America  is  the  greatest 
thought  ever  evolved  by  the  human  mind,  for  it  is  nothing  but  the  mind 
of  man  opening  for  itself  a  new  world  of  aspiration,  imagination,  and 
achievement.  It  came  at  one  of  the  darkest,  if  not  the  darkest  hour  in  the 
annals  of  the  race.  The  kings  of  Europe  were  forging  new  shackles  for 
the  people;  there  was  intense  restlessness;  a  barbarism  more  terrible  than 
that  of  Attila  or  Ghengis  Khan  seemed  to  threaten  Western  Europe. 
Had  the  New  World  then  not  flecked  the  horizon  of  men's  hopes,  the 
civilization  of  Europe  would  in  all  probability  have  been  irretrievably 

44 


AMERICA— AND  THE  AMERICANS 

lost.  John  Fiske  says  it  saved  the  race  from  a  cataclysm,  for  it  came  to  it 
as  good  news  comes  to  a  man  on  the  point  of  committing  suicide. 

The  American  Continent  is,  therefore,  the  continent  of  "hope"  for  all 
the  peoples  of  the  earth.  A  land,  for  the  work  such  as  the  American 
continent  is  designed  for,  must  not  only  be  difficult  for  any  single  race  to 
reach  and  conquer,  but  it  must  possess  an  unparalleled  magnitude  and 
opulence  to  house  and  accommodate  countless  numbers  of  all  the  races. 
Such  a  land  must  not  only  be  able  to  protect  itself  from  all  enemies  to 
the  principles  which  it  proclaims  to  the  world,  but  by  the  sheer  magnitude 
of  its  size,  numbers  and  material  success  it  must  strive  to  impress  its 
moral  example  upon  the  world.  No  small  country  could  assume  this 
responsibility.  No  country  surrounded  by  numerous  competitive  nations 
could  set  up  this  work.  No  place  in  Europe  or  Asia  could  shelter  the 
operations  of  such  a  gigantic  task.  England,  by  virtue  of  its  island  loca- 
tion, has  served  as  a  stage  in  this  evolution.  Remarkable  is  the  fact  that 
to-day  the  races  of  no  one  continent  flourish  to  any  high  degree  on 
the  other  continents,  except  in  America.  Nowhere  has  the  negro  ever 
been  able  to  live  even  as  a  slave  outside  of  Africa,  except  in  America. 
Every  effort  to  acclimate  the  black  man  in  Europe  has  failed.  Europe 
knows  neither  Chinese  nor  Japanese  as  they  live  in  America.  These  races 
do  not  prosper  in  Australia  or  New  Zealand  as  they  do  in  the  United 
States.  And  everywhere  outside  of  Europe  have  the  European  races 
tended  to  deteriorate,  except  in  America  where  they  have  markedly  im- 
proved on  the  old  stock. 

The  uniting  of  the  races  into  one  nation  means  first  of  all  liberty  and 
peace.  The  whole  history  of  the  world  cruelly  demonstrates  that  the 
races  cannot  be  united  by  the  sword  and  political  servitude.  To  cut  down 
one  race  or  nation  is  to  raise  up  half  a  dozen  new  and  stronger  enemies. 
No  man  who  left  Europe  in  the  i6th,  lyth  and  i8th  centuries  for  America 
had  a  thought  that  he  was  coming  to  a  land  where  his  descendants  would 
ultimately  merge  into  the  one  new  race  with  descendants  of  men  he  neither 
knew  nor  liked.  His  only  idea  was  liberty  and  peace,  and  for  three 
centuries  America  has  grown  on  this  idea;  out  of  it  has  come  confidence, 
tolerance,  sympathy,  freedom.  Everything  has  gone  into  this  melting  pot. 

We  are  at  last  beginning  to  see  the  whole  world  (and  the  whole 
world  is  beginning  to  see  us)  through  the  eyes  of  Patrick  Henry  and 
Thomas  Jefferson  and  Abraham  Lincoln.  We  hear  the  note  of  human- 
ity sounding  high  and  clear  above  the  thunder  of  World  War.  That 
note  of  humanity  is  a  world-note,  a  union-race  note,  a  one-race  note,  the 
note  of  the  cross.  When  Lincoln  put  his  Emancipation  Proclamation  on 
the  wires,  he  sent  that  same  note  down  into  every  mansion  and  cabin  of 

45 


AMERICA—THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

the  South.  When  America  sent  it  as  a  world  warning  to  Europe  in 
1915,  it  sounded  like  the  small  voice  of  conscience  in  the  heavens.  But  it 
penetrated  through  the  purlieus  of  White  Chapel  and  Cuxhaven ;  it  entered 
the  lacquered  doors  of  the  Wilhelm  Strasse  and  Shonbrunn  Palace. 

Look  for  a  moment  at  this  continent  through  the  eyes  of  Professor 
Shaler,  the  eminent  geologist.  This  great  scientist  traversed  on  foot  every 
continent  on  the  globe,  studying  not  only  its  earth  formation,  its  minerals, 
its  soil,  its  sunshine,  its  rainfall  and  climate,  but  its  human  habitations. 
He  says  that  the  part  of  the  American  Continent  occupied  by  the  United 
States  and  Canada  is  incomparably  superior  for  the  habitation  of  the 
human  race  to  any  like  area  elsewhere.  When  we  speak  of  the  magnitude 
of  the  American  Continent,  figures  swell  and  grow  like  mighty  rivers. 
Men  now  habitually  think  in  millions  and  billions.  A  big  thing  is  a 
commonplace  thing  unless  it  is  the  biggest  thing  of  its  kind  in  the  world, 
for  in  this  country  we  dearly  love  the  colossal — it  appeals  to  the  American 
imagination. 

Such  leading  facts  of  physical  magnitude,  power  and  superiority  as 
relate  to  the  continent  as  a  whole,  have,  according  to  Lord  Bryce  in  the 
new  edition  of  his  "American  Commonwealth,"  tended  to  make  the  Amer- 
ican multitude  quantitative  rather  than  qualitative  in  their  ideas  of  their 
country.  We  would  reply  that  in  America  magnitude  in  ideals  backed 
by  magnitude  in  natural  resources  is  the  true  American  claim.  President 
Wilson  recently  said  in  a  speech  that  it  took  a  great  people  to  conquer  a 
great  continent  and  has  written  the  following  words  on  this  subject:  "It 
has  been  pronounced  grotesque  that  mere  bigness  and  wealth  should  be 
put  forward  as  the  most  prominent  grounds  for  the  boast  of  greatness. 
The  obvious  fact  is  that  for  the  creation  of  the  nation,  the  conquest  of  her 
territory  from  nature  was  necessary;  and  this  task  which  is  hardly  com- 
pleted has  been  idealized  in  the  popular  mind." 

America  never  could  fulfill  its  destiny  without  not  only  retaining 
this  sense  of  magnitude,  but  recreating  it  as  the  mould  for  making  its 
impression  on  the  world  in  terms  for  realizing  its  own  power  and  per- 
forming its  great  duty  to  the  world.  We  shall  in  later  chapters  discuss 
American  invention,  science,  education,  arts,  and  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  forces  that  constitute  true  greatness,  but  let  us  first  measure  our 
physical  proportions  and  physical  power. 

Our  country  is  continental  in  its  magnitude.  It  is  the  only  land 
under  one  flag,  occupying  an  area  of  more  than  three  million  square  miles, 
wholly  within  the  temperate  zone  and  washed  by  the  world's  two  great 
seas.  No  other  country  of  the  same  area  within  the  temperate  zone  pos- 
sesses so  much  arable  and  habitable  land  as  the  United  States.  Russia 

46 


MONEY  CENTER  OF  THE  WESTERN  WORLD— Wall   Street,   New    York,  showing  the    Stock   Exchange 

and  Morgan  Banking  House — This  thoroughfare  ranks  among  the  three  most  important 

financial  centers  in  the  world. 


1D1UJ11 

JjJ  111  Jii 

iLllllJJJ 

id  iU  i»- 
iU  il-1 
t^Ul-JU 


GIANT  SKYSCRAPERS  OF  WESTERN  HEMISPHERE- — Brilliant  night  scene  In  Now  York  sliowinf 

the   light    in    Metropolitan    Tower,    overlooking    Madison    Square — This    structure    is    ~>() 

stories  high   or  700  feet,   three   inches, 


AMERICA—AND  THE  AMERICANS 

has  more  land  in  the  temperate  zone,  but  far  less  that  is  fertile,  productive 
and  habitable  to  the  degree  of  our  American  land.  More  of  the  earth's 
population  can  develop  itself  here,  can  find  raiment  and  shelter  and  take 
root  and  flower  and  fruit  into  a  surpassing  civilization.  There  are,  as  we 
have  observed,  according  to  a  German  statistician,  about  2,000,000,000 
human  beings  on  this  planet.  America,  and  only  America  among  the 
nations,  and  even  among  the  continents,  has  the  capacity  to  feed  and  house 
every  family  of  this  vast  humanity  and  to  give  each  one  of  them  a  far 
more  comfortable  home  than  the  great  majority  of  them  now  have,  accord- 
ing to  the  opinion  of  more  than  one  economic  authority. 

If  America  can  feed  and  house  the  world  let  us  for  a  moment  suppose 
that  the  whole  human  race  were  now  here.  Try  first  to  conceive  in  the 
mind  what  is  the  size  of  the  human  race  gathered  in  one  city  where  the 
people  live  as  close  to  one  another  as  they  do  in  New  York.  This  number 
of  people  would  make  320  New  Yorks,  and  320  New  Yorks  would  cover 
only  that  small  part  of  the  country  from  New  York  City  to  within  thirty 
miles  of  Buffalo.  The  present  population  of  the  United  States,  if  it  were 
possible  to  live  in  one  city,  would  make  a  city  twenty  times  the  size  of 
New  York.  But  with  this  population  scattered  over  this  vast  country 
there  are  only  33  persons  on  the  square  mile.  If  the  world  and  all  its 
kin  lived  here  there  would  be  533  persons  to  the  square  mile  and  that  would 
mean  every  mile,  including  Pike's  Peak  and  the  Grand  Canons  and  the 
Great  Desert.  But  England  has  almost  as  many  people  to  the  square  mile 
as  that;  Belgium  has  more.  Yet  we  are  told  that  so  rich  and  inexhaustible 
is  America  in  the  gifts  of  nature  that  all  these  people  could  live  here  in 
the  present  state  of  science  far  better  than  the  people  of  China  or  India 
live  to-day. 

This  gives  us  an  idea  of  the  inexhaustible  power  of  nature  in  the 
United  States.  Germany  occupies  a  large  area  on  the  map  of  Europe;  it 
has  67,000,000  population,  208,780  square  miles,  and  is  the  third  richest 
country  on  the  globe.  We  could  put  at  least  14%  Germanys  in  the  area 
of  the  United  States.  But  we  have  one  State — Texas — where  Germany 
itself  could  be  laid  down  and  Texas  would  remain  uncovered.  Moreover, 
Texas  could  be  made  to  produce  more  from  its  soil  than  does  Germany. 
You  can  very  easily  place  14%  Frances  in  the  United  States.  France  has 
an  area  of  207,054  and  39,000,000  population.  Fifty-two  Englands  can 
be  put  down  on  the  map  of  the  United  States.  If  England  were  placed 
on  the  State  of  New  York  only  a  little  of  it  would  lap  over  upon  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania.  England  could  be  put  down  in  California  2% 
times;  in  Texas  4%;  in  New  Mexico  2/4i;  in  Arizona  nearly  twice;  in 
Nevada  1%  times. 

49 


AMERICA— THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

Nowhere  on  this  planet  in  an  equal  area  is  there  such  an  equal  distri- 
bution of  sunshine  and  rainfall.  The  mean  annual  rainfall  of  twenty-nine 
inches  is  so  extensive  that  every  square  mile  of  the  great  Southwestern  Des- 
ert can  be  abundantly  irrigated  without  depleting  the  water  supply  else- 
where. With  all  the  violent  changes  of  climate  on  the  North  Atlantic  sea- 
board and  around  the  Lakes,  we  have  a  climate  ranging  between  40  and  70 
degrees  Fahrenheit.  The  European  climate,  including  Russia,  ranges  from 
70  to  30.  Nowhere  over  so  vast  a  territory  is  there  so  little  fog  as  in 
America. 

We  have  seen  the  possible  capacity  of  the  United  States  and  the 
magnitude  of  its  area — now  let  us  assay  our  natural  wealth.  We  have 
another  sort  of  magnificence  of  magnitude  to  which  we  claim  distinction. 
It  is  in  what  we  have  wrought  out  of  this  country  since  we  came  into 
possession  of  it.  The  national  wealth  of  a  country  with  its  periodic  growth 
and  present  sum,  is  the  most  concrete,  tangible  expression  of  the  nation's 
power  in  the  world.  It  represents  most  nearly  the  moral,  mental  and 
physical  energy  of  a  whole  people  that  can  be  expressed  in  physical  terms. 
If  it  is  hoarded  and  stagnant  wealth  the  energies  of  the  nation  may  be 
dying  with  its  wealth  in  its  coffers.  If  it  is  dishonest,  stolen  wealth  it  may 
destroy  the  nation  possessing  it.  The  wealth  of  the  United  States  is 
anything  but  stagnant  or  hoarded,  and  it  is  probably  the  most  honestly 
accumulated  wealth  in  the  world.  Forty  years  ago,  Carlyle  said  the 
American  people  boasted  of  doubling  their  population  every  twenty  years 
— "doubling  their  dollar  chasers."  John  Fiske  retorted:  "The  Euro- 
peans double  their  population  now  and  then  and  just  as  often  double  their 
scalp  chasers." 

The  United  States  is  by  far  the  richest  country  on  this  globe  in 
national  wealth.  It  is  almost  as  rich  as  both  England  and  Germany  added 
together  and  at  its  present  rate  of  progress  it  will  surpass  them  both  within 
five  years.  Its  national  wealth  was  estimated  in  1915  at  the  enormous 
figures  of  $150,000,000,000. 

How  much  was  the  Roman  Empire  worth"?  Bear  in  mind  that  when 
the  Roman  Empire  was  at  its  height  of  power,  the  whole  known  world 
occupied  a  place  in  the  world  of  its  day  comparable  only  to  the  whole 
planet  of  the  present.  Some  one  has  estimated  from  what  historic  data 
that  is  available  that  the  wealth  of  Rome  in  the  days  of  Julius  Caesar 
50  B.  c.  could  not  have  exceeded  $20,000,000,000  in  our  money.  The 
American  people  produced  more  wealth  last  year  than  the  whole  world 
was  worth  2,000  years  ago,  when  it  stood  at  its  supreme  height  and  power 
in  ancient  history.  It  is  hard  to  clutch  cold  black  figures  in  the  mind,  but 
try  to  realize  what  is  undoubtedly  a  fact  that  the  State  of  New  York 

50 


AMERICA— AND  THE  AMERICANS 

is  giving  to  the  world  more  dynamic  energy  and  power  than  the  whole 
Roman  Empire  ever  generated.  New  York  City  alone  is  doing  more 
work  to-day  than  the  whole  world  did  in  the  days  of  Augustus  Caesar. 

But  now  let  us  make  some  comparisons  of  the  wealth  of  the  United 
States  with  the  other  richest  nations  in  the  world.  We  find  in  the  last 
statistical  statement  of  1910,  these  twelve  nations  ranked  as  fol- 
lows : — United  States  $  1 20,000,000,000 ;  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  $68,- 
000,000,000;  France  $45,000,000,000;  Germany  $43,000,000,000; 
Belgium  $7,000,000,000;  Spain  $5,000,000,000;  Netherlands  $5,000,- 
000,000;  Portugal  $2,000,000,000;  Switzerland  $2,400,000,000.  At 
the  end  of  1914  they  stood  as  follows: — United  States  $150,000,000,000; 
Great  Britain  $85,000,000,000;  Germany  $80,000,000,000;  France 
$50,000,000,000;  Russia  $40,000,000,000;  Austria-Hungary  $25,- 
000,000,000;  Italy  $20,000,000,000;  Belgium  $9,000,000,000;  Spain 
$5,400,000,000;  Netherlands  $5,000,000,000;  Switzerland,  $4,000,000,- 
ooo;  Portugal  $2,500,000,000.  In  the  next  five  years  there  was  an  enor- 
mous increase.  The  German  Empire  rose  to  $80,000,000,000  and  the 
others  made  large  advance  while  the  United  States  reached  $150,000,- 
000,000. 

Nothing  can  more  truly  reveal  the  overwhelmingly  increasing  power 
of  America  among  the  nations.  The  Russian  Empire  is  the  greatest  land 
empire  in  the  world,  but  America  has  produced  enough  wealth  since  1907 
to  buy  the  Czar's  entire  dominions  under  the  hammer.  Our  railroads  are 
worth  more  now  than  the  entire  kingdom  of  Italy.  Our  harvest  this  year 
would  more  than  buy  the  whole  of  Spain  or  the  Netherlands.  The  prod- 
ucts of  our  mines  would  more  than  purchase  Portugal.  The  values  that 
we  have  added  to  our  farming  lands  and  city  lots  within  the  last  fifteen 
months  would  buy  the  little  mountain  republic  of  Switzerland.  Our 
harvests  this  year,  and  the  values  that  we  have  added  to  our  national 
domain  by  buildings  within  the  last  twelve  months,  and  other  real  estate 
improvements,  are  worth  more  to-day  than  this  whole  republic  was  worth 
in  1850;  its  wealth  then  did  not  exceed  the  modest  sum  of  $7,000,000,- 
ooo.  England  then  had  nearly  three  times  our  wealth,  and  France  was 
not  far  behind  England. 

What  does  $150,000,000,000  mean  to  the  imagination*?  With  this 
sum  of  money  the  United  States  could  buy  nearly  twenty  cities,  each  as 
wealthy  as  New  York.  It  could  pay  for  Germany  and  France,  or  France 
and  Russia,  with  enough  left  over  to  purchase  Spain  and  Portugal.  It 
could  buy  thirty  Spains,  thirty  Hollands,  three  Frances  and  nearly  four 
Russias.  It  could  buy  out  all  the  railroads  of  the  world  and  then  leave 
enough  to  pay  for  England.  If  this  money  could  be  put  on  interest  one 

51 


AMERICA— THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

***.:'.-•"•• 

year  at  six  per  cent  the  interest  would  more  than  pay  the  public  debt  of  the 
United  States  three  times.  This  interest  could  build  a  fleet  of  500  super- 
dreadnoughts.  One-sixth  of  this  interest  could  build  a  fleet  stronger  than 
all  the  navies  of  the  world  to-day.  This  interest  for  two  years  could  build 
and  equip  all  the  railroads  in  the  United  States,  and  all  the  roads  of  the 
world  in  four  and  a  half  years.  If  this  national  wealth  were  equally 
divided  among  the  people  each  person  would  have  about  $1,500. 

We  Americans  enter  our  claims  to  distinction  and  stand  before  the 
judgment  of  the  World  on  the  record  of  our  achievements  which  will  be 
presented  in  the  following  chapters  in  this  volume.  We  shall  show  that 
we  have  the  continent;  we  have  the  natural  resources;  we  have  the  popu- 
lation; we  have  the  form  of  government;  we  have  the  ideals,  indomitable 
will,  perseverance,  resolution — all  the  elements  essential  to  the  building 
of  a  great  nation.  We  claim,  moreover,  that  in  the  140  years  of  our 
national  life  we  have  made  greater  progress  toward  this  achievement  and 
have  contributed  more  liberally  to  civilization  than  has  any  other  nation  in 
so  brief  a  period  within  the  records  of  mankind. 

Human  progress  is  an  admixture  of  all  the  powers  mentioned,  plus 
spiritual  force  and  economic  determinism.  As  the  philosopher  said: 
"All  growth  that  is  not  toward  God  is  growing  to  decay."  Nations  are 
but  groups  of  men  and  are  subject  to  the  same  laws  of  physical,  moral,  and 
intellectual  development.  The  whole  spirit  of  human,  progress  is  em- 
bodied in  the  American  people — possibly  more  so  than  in  any  other  people 
on  the  earth.  We  have  the  determination,  industry,  inventive  genius  and 
decision  to  become  great,  and  we  have  the  inventive  genius  to  translate 
these  qualities  into  action — stupendous  action. 

We  entered  the  arena  of  the  world's  activities  less  than  a  century 
and  a  half  ago  and  we  speeded  up  human  progress;  we  broke  the  chains 
that  stayed  it;  we  gave  it  momentum;  we  emancipated  human  progress  and 
inspired  the  world  with  new  ideals,  kindling  new  hopes  in  the  hearts  of 
mankind,  and  opening  up  new  and  larger  opportunities  for  the  growth  of 
the  human  race. 

We  have  set  up  on  the  Western  Hemisphere  a  new  model  for  hu- 
manity. We  realize  that  nations  with  similar  ideals  have  passed  their 
brief  existence  and  gone  to  decay — such  as  the  democracy  of  Greece  and 
the  republic  of  Rome.  But  we  can  only  say  with  the  Bishop  Berkeley 
"On  the  prospect  of  planting  arts  and  learning  in  America" : 

"Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way, 
The  four  first  acts  already  past, 
A  fifth  shall  close  the  drama  with  the  day; 
Time's  noblest  offspring  is  the  last!" 

52 


GUEAT    INDUSTRIAL    CENTER    OF   MIDDLE    WEST — The    commercial    growtii    of    Chicago    is 

one  of  the  miracles  of  the  development  of  the  West — It  is  one  of  the  chain   of  cities 

that   have   made   the  Great  Lakes  the   most  active   inland   sea  in  the  world. 


SECOND   LARGEST   CITY    IN    UNITED   STATES — Chicago   lies  on   the   southwestern   shore  of 
Lake  Michigan — This  city  has  grown  to  enormous  magnitude  with  the  development  of 
the  West — H  wa.s  settle<4  about  1777 — First  migration  began  about 


LARGEST   CTTY   ON   WESTERN  COAST   OF  AMERICA — San   Francisco   ranks  ninth   in   popula- 
tion;  seventh   seaport   in   commercial   importance— It  was   visited   by    Europeans   in    17t5!>, 
incorporated   in    1S.~>0 — It   is   an   active   force  in   the   development  of   the   nation. 


GOLDEN    GATE    TO    THE    ORIENT — The    Bay   of    San    Francisco    forms    a    magnificent    harbor 

about  ninety  miles  long  and  from  flve  to  fifteen  miles  wide — Regular  lines  of  steamships 

connect  with  all  the  ports  on  the  Pacific  Coast  and  countries  of  the  far  East. 


PART  I  CHAPTER  II 

NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  THE 
AMERICAN  PEOPLE 


"A  thousand  years  scarce  serve  to  form  a  state ; 
An  hour  may  lay  it  in  the  dust." 

— Byron. 

"Let  me  entreat  you,  gentlemen,  on  your  part,  not  to  take  any  measures 
which,  viewed  in  the  calm  light  of  reason,  will  lessen  the  dignity  and  sully 
the  glory  you  have  hitherto  maintained.  .  .  .  You  will,  by  the  dignity  of  your 
conduct,  afford  occasion  for  posterity  to  say,  when  speaking  of  the  glorious 
example  you  have  exhibited  to  mankind :  'Had  this  day  been  wanting,  the 
world  had  never  seen  the  last  stage  of  perfection  to  which  human  nature  is 
capable  of  attaining.'  " — Washington. 


1 


amour  of  romance  casts  its  golden  light  over  the  pageantry 
of  American  progress ;  a  romance  ennobled  by  the  stern  duty  of 
a  purposeful  people ;  a  people  inspired  in  a  Great  Cause ;  a  cause 
as  heroic  and  courageous  as  that  of  the  old  Crusaders — the  plant- 
ing of  the  standard  of  triumphant  democracy  before  the  whole  world.  It 
is  frequently  charged  that  the  Americans  have  no  background — that  we  are 
a  "colorless"  people,  with  no  tales  of  adventure,  no  deeds  of  daring  to  re- 
late, no  heroic  episodes  in  our  life  story.  This  common  belief  is  indeed  a 
legend  in  itself,  for  the  progress  of  the  American  people  is  one  continuous 
epic  filled  with  dramatic  power  and  tense  in  its  human  emotions,  with 
perhaps  the  most  picturesque  characters  that  have  ever  trod  the  highways  of 
human  existence.  It  is  a  romance  more  heroic  than  that  of  ancient  Greece, 
sturdier  than  that  of  the  old  Romans,  more  chivalrous  than  the  days  of 
knighthood,  because  it  is  the  romance  of  nation  building  and  there  is  no 
more  heroic  adventure  in  the  episodes  of  mankind. 

America  is  the  borderland  of  chivalry,  but  it  is  the  chivalry  of  a 
courageous,  lion-hearted  people,  conquering  a  continent,  subduing  wild 
beast  and  savage,  fighting  its  way  through  dense  forests,  through  ravines  and 
mountain  gorges,  over  snow-clad  peaks,  fording  mighty  rivers — and  sub- 
jecting them  all  to  the  will  and  utility  of  man.  It  is  quite  true  that  in 
America  there  is  no  glitter  of  hauberk,  helm,  and  lance,  and  ladies  did  not 
ride  with  hawk  on  wrist,  but  the  trumpet  sounds  and  the  banner  waves, 
while  mighty  men  blaze  their  way  across  a  hemisphere,  bridging  rivers  and 
canyons,  harnessing  the  torrents  and  floods,  conquering  the  rock  barriers 
of  mountains,  causing  great  cities  to  rise  from  the  vast  forests,  and  com- 

55 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

manding  the  wilderness  to  blossom  and  the  earth  to  disgorge  its  hidden 
riches. 

The  Great  Adventure — Days  of  American  Knighthood 

LET  us  pass  in  procession  before  us  the  four  hundred  years  of  pag- 
eantry, in  which  we  look  upon  the  men  and  the  events  that  have 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  American  nation.  The  march  of  Amer- 
ican civilization  begins  with  what  we  might  call  the  Great  Adventure — the 
period  of  Discovery  from  the  year  1000  to  the  first  permanent  settlement 
in  the  New  World.  It  begins  with  the  daring  sea  tales  of  the  Vikings  and 
the  sea  rovers,  bold  Spanish  explorers,  gallant  English  navigators,  debonair 
French  adventurers,  monks,  courtiers,  knights — a  wonderful  procession  of 
strong  characters  that  appeal  strongly  to  the  imagination.  Here  we  meet 
the  hardy  old  Norsemen,  whose  adventures  brought  them  along  these 
shores  in  the  days  of  the  sea  rovers,  whom  the  storms  tossed  from  the  oceans 
on  this  side  of  the  earth. 

These  were  the  days  when  gentlemen  of  adventure  and  knights  of 
fortune  were  roving  the  unknown  seas  to  find  new  lands  of  fabulous  riches. 
It  was  a  partnership  between  kings,  bankers,  and  adventurers  which  began 
this  period  of  world  discovery;  it  was  a  business  speculation  in  which  the 
profits  were  distributed  among  the  several  interests.  They  started  forth 
not  only  to  stake  out  the  earth  and  claim  dominion  over  it,  but  to  own  and 
control  the  sea-routes — to  charter  and  lease  the  oceans — to  claim  absolute 
monopoly  over  the  universe,  or  as  much  of  it  as  they  might  set  foot  and 
plant  their  standards  upon.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  these  early  expe- 
ditions were  not  for  the  purposes  of  scientific  discovery  or  geographical 
exploration  but  wholly  for  trade  and  empire — they  were  purely  specula- 
tions for  profit,  a  game  played  for  big  stakes  by  the  Old  World  monarchs 
and  financiers.  It  is  interesting  further  to  note  that  out  of  this  business 
speculation  should  develop  not  only  the  world's  greatest  democracy — the 
greatest  business  nation  in  the  world,  but  a  nation  that  has  broken  down 
all  the  despotic  privileges  of  the  Old  World  and  stands  for  complete  free- 
dom of  the  seas  and  absolute  justice  and  equality  on  land. 

There  looms  before  us  in  this  period  of  adventure  the  tall  figure  of  a 
Genoese— a  man  with  an  idea,  with  a  business  proposition.  He  is  willing 
to  promote  a  venture  for  the  purpose  of  laying  claim  to  a  new  route  to  the 
Far  East  by  the  way  of  the  western  seas  if  he  can  secure  sufficient  financial 
backing.  This  man  was  Christopher  Columbus — and  the  result  of  his 
achievement  was  the  discovery  of  America.  Columbus,  in  command  of  an 
expedition  of  three  ships  sent  out  by  the  King  of  Spain,  sailed  in  August, 
1492,  on  his  voyage  to  reach  Asia  by  sailing  westward  on  the  Sea  of 

56 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

Darkness  (the  Atlantic).  It  is  a  great  sea  story  —  with  its  mutinies,  chains, 
storms,  hunger,  and  desperation  —  above  which  looms  the  determined  coun- 
tenance of  Columbus.  After  leaving  the  Canary  Islands,  the  first  land 
that  he  sighted  was  one  of  the  Bahamas  —  on  October  12,  1492  —  and, 
though  he  believed  that  he  had  reached  Asia  (a  belief  which  he  carried  to 
his  death),  he  was  the  discoverer  of  a  New  World.  It  is  interesting  to 
recall  that  in  this  same  year  occurred  one  of  the  most  momentous  events  in 
European  history  —  the  capture  of  Granada  by  the  armies  of  the  heroic 
queen  —  Isabella  of  Castile  —  who  pawned  her  jewels  in  order  to  assist 
Columbus  in  his  great  enterprise,  and  the  definite  expulsion  from  the 
Iberian  Peninsula  of  the  Moors,  who  had  occupied  it  for  700  years. 

Columbus  made  three  or  more  voyages  to  the  New  World,  which  he 
called  the  Indies,  from  which  fact  the  natives  of  these  continents  have 
ever  since  been  known  as  Indians.  The  tragic  end  of  Columbus,  his  over- 
throw by  his  political  enemies,  his  trial,  imprisonment,  and  death  are  great 
studies  in  human  psychology  —  plots  more  intense  in  their  action  than 
dramatists  have  ever  been  able  to  conceive  from  the  imagination. 

It  was  a  picturesque  group  of  adventurers  that  crossed  the  seas  in  the 
wake  of  Columbus  —  hardy  old  navigators  from  Spain  and  Portugal  fol- 
lowed his  lead  and  quickly  found  the  mainland.  The  first  of  these  was 
Americus  Vespucius,  an  Italian  in  the  employ  of  Portugal  —  and  from  him 
the  land  received  its  name,  when  a  German  geographer  issued  a  little  book 
in  1507  about  the  new  discoveries,  and,  because  Americus  Vespucius  was  the 
first  European  to  sight  the  mainland,  named  it  in  his  honor  —  America. 

Then  came  Balboa,  a  Spaniard,  who  crossed  the  Isthmus  of  Panama 
in  1513,  fighting  fever,  beasts,  and  Indians,  traversing  swamps  and  moun- 
tains under  the  tropical  heat  —  and  discovered  what  he  called  the  South  Sea 
—  the  Pacific.  Soon  we  see  Ponce  de  Leon,  another  Spaniard,  in  search  of 
a  fountain  of  perpetual  youth,  who  first  came  upon  Florida  (1513)  ;  and 
his  countryman,  Pineda,  exploring  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 


At  this  time  the  great  cataclysm  of  the  Reformation  burst  over  Europe. 
But  this  movement  little  affected  the  Iberian  powers,  bent  on  adventure  and 
conquest,  led  on  by  the  two  motives  of  avarice  and  zeal  —  and  the  zeal  was 
ever  for  the  ancient  religion. 

It  was  not  until  an  expedition  commanded  by  Magellan,  a  Portuguese, 
circumnavigated  the  earth  in  1519,  that  it  was  definitely  known  that  Colum- 
bus stumbled  upon  a  new  continent  which  blocked  sailing  directly  to  the 
Orient,  instead  of  having  reached  the  Orient  itself.  On  came  the  Span- 
iards, exploring  the  interiors  of  these  new  lands,  and  in  1565  founded  the 
settlement  of  St.  Augustine  in  Florida  —  the  first  settlement  of  Europeans 

57 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

in  what  is  now  the  United  States.     Thus  we  owe  to  Spain  the  beginning  of 
civilization  on  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

Tales  of  incalculable  wealth — gold,  fur,  hides,  precious  woods  and 
metals — soon  began  to  be  told  in  the  inns  of  England  where  the  navigators 
gathered.  The  English  adventurers  had  been  liberally  financed  by  the 
Government  and  the  bankers  in  their  East  Indian  ventures,  which  were 
beginning  to  pay  large  profits  in  spices  and  silks.  Their  attention  now 
turned  to  the  new  America.  An  English  expedition  under  the  command 
of  John  and  Sebastian  Cabot,  Italians,  explored  what  is  now  our  Atlantic 
seaboard  (1497)  ;  but  it  was  nearly  a  century  before  other  English  expedi- 
tions came  to  the  New  World.  Frobisher,  seeking  a  passage  through  the 
continent  to  Asia,  found  the  bay  which  bears  his  name  (1576),  and  Drake, 
after  rounding  the  Horn,  explored  the  coast  of  Oregon  and  stopped  for  a 
time  in  what  is  now  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco  (1579).  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh,  a  favorite  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  attempted  to  make  a  settlement 
at  Roanoke  Island  in  1585,  but  it  was  a  failure.  The  returning  settlers 
took  back  with  them  tobacco  and  potatoes — novelties  for  Europe — and  the 
Western  Hemisphere  began  to  be  spoken  of  as  a  land  of  opportunity  for 
permanent  colonization. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  Old  World,  Shakespeare  was  inditing  his  immortal 
works,  Spenser  was  extolling  the  charms  of  the  "Faerie  Queenes."  It  was 
the  Elizabethan  Age  of  English  literature — only  comparable  in  the  world's 
history  to  that  of  Pericles  or  Augustus. 

The  first  permanent  settlement  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  in  what  is 
now  the  United  States  was  that  at  Jamestown,  Virginia,  founded  in  1607. 
There  were  4,000  colonists  in  the  province  within  thirteen  years.  When  it 
was  ordered  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  eleven  boroughs  in  which  they  lived 
should  send  representatives  to  a  legislature  to  be  called  the  House  of  Bur- 
gesses, the  first  representative  body  in  America  came  into  existence  (1619} ; 
and  in  the  same  year  a  Dutch  ship  arrived  and  sold  twenty  negro  slaves 
brought  from  Africa,  thus  establishing  another  institution — slavery. 

It  is  at  this  time  that  we  receive  on  the  American  shores  the  ship-load 
of  regicides,  who,  fleeing  from  the  theocracy  of  the  Old  World,  were  to 
plant  the  first  seed  of  democracy  on  the  Western  Hemisphere — a  sect  called 
Puritans  because  they  insisted  on  certain  "purfying"  reforms  for  both  the 
Church  and  State.  These  liberals  little  realized  that  their  secession  from 
the  established  orthodox  forms  in  civil  and  religious  government — their 
heresy  was  to  mark  the  birth  of  a  new  freedom,  religious,  intellectual,  so- 
cial, and  economic.  Leaving  England — practically  ostracized  and  exiled 
— they  went  to  Holland  and  finally  came  to  the  rock-bound  coast  of  what 
is  now  New  England.  They  set  up  a  colony  at  Plymouth  in  the  present 

58 


AMKRK'AX   IIISTOKY    IX    KfROl'KAX   ART      This  aiirimt    ].;iintin«  in   .Madrid  shows  Columbus 

delivering  the  Royal  Order  for  the  Caravels  to  start  on  his  journey  from  Palos, 

Spain,  which  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  America  in  1493t 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

State  of  Massachusetts  in  1620,  after  sailing  thence  in  the  Mayflower. 
New  colonists,  fleets  of  white-sailed  ships,  soon  headed  toward  America 
from  England,  and  the  Pilgrim  foundations  were  laid. 

Romance  of  Colonial  Days — Awakening  of  the  Wilderness 

THE  romance  of  colonial  days  now  begins  to  lighten  the  dark  recesses 
of  the  virgin  wilderness.  It  is  a  period  of  colonization  from  1607 
to  1763 — 156  years.  This  second  period  is  replete  with  pic- 
turesque glimpses  of  human  life.  It  is  filled  with  gallant  deeds,  unique 
costumes,  and  rich  humor;  Indians,  quaint  Dutchmen,  somber  Puritans, 
brave  Cavaliers,  pious  Quakers,  Jesuit  priests,  lords  and  ladies — all  moving 
through  quaint  villages  and  thrilling  Indian  Wars — scalping,  witchcraft, 
pillories,  burning  at  the  stake,  villages  in  flames,  heroic  women,  fleeing  chil- 
dren— an  almost  illimitable  field  for  historical  drama. 

But  we  should  here  warn  ourselves  against  a  common  error — we  must 
not  make  the  mistake  so  often  made  by  historians.  The  permanent  foun- 
dations of  the  American  nation  were  not  all  laid  by  the  English-speaking 
peoples.  This  nation  is  built  upon  the  courage,  self-sacrifice,  labor,  and 
lives  of  many  races — Spanish,  English,  Dutch,  French,  Swedish — each  of 
which  contributed  in  those  early  days  very  substantial  and  essential  founda- 
tions upon  which  later  the  whole  structure  was  to  be  built  by  all  the  na- 
tionalities of  the  earth — Irish,  Scotch,  German,  Italian,  Scandinavian,  Slav 
— with  the  sinew  and  blood  of  the  whole  Occident  and  the  Orient  welded 
into  one  race — the  American  people. 

The  Dutch — a  trading  people  who  were  powerful  in  the  world's  com- 
merce— founded  the  greatest  metropolis  on  the  Western  Hemisphere. 
Henry  Hudson,  an  Englishman  in  their  employ,  discovered  Hudson  Bay, 
and  also  a  river,  which  now  bears  his  name,  in  1609.  Here,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river,  the  Dutch  established  a  trading  post  on  Manhattan  Island. 
This  grew  into  a  colony  known  as  New  Amsterdam.  Pushing  north,  they 
established  other  colonies  in  the  Hudson  Valley,  until  they  were  firmly  im- 
bedding in  American  soil  the  characteristics  that  have  been  large  factors  in 
our  commercial  growth. 

The  increase  in  colonization  by  the  various  nationalities  cannot  be 
studied  here  in  detail.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  by  1650  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board was  held  by  the  Europeans  as  follows:  the  Spaniards  held  and 
colonized  the  inland  and  coast  along  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  along  the 
Atlantic,  about  as  far  north  as  the  northern  boundary  of  Florida.  North 
of  that  lay  what  the  English  called  their  Virginia  Colony,  reaching  nearly 
to  the  headwaters  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  Then  came,  near  the  present  site 
of  Wilmington,  Delaware,  a  settlement  of  Swedes  (for  that  people,  too,  set 

61 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

up  colonies  here),  and  north  of  them  were  the  Dutch  colonies,  embracing 
what  is  now  part  of  New  York  State  and  part  of  New  Jersey.  North 
of  these  there  was  another  English  territory,  embracing  what  is  now  called, 
and  what  was  then  named,  New  England. 

The  French  began  their  explorations  and  settlement  in  America  later 
than  the  other  nationalities,  but  performed  the  heroic  task  of  penetrating 
the  interior.  By  the  time  they  started  there  was  nothing  on  the  seaboard 
for  them  to  acquire  except  land  in  the  north,  around  the  mouth  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  River.  Cartier  explored  the  St.  Lawrence  Valley,  however, 
as  early  as  1534,  and  in  1608  a  party  under  the  command  of  Champlain 
founded  a  colony  at  Quebec.  The  conquest  of  the  interior  was  a  mighty 
achievement.  Marquette  pushed  inland  till  he  came  to  the  headwaters  of 
the  Mississippi  and  sailed  down  that  river  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the 
Arkansas  (1673).  La  Salle,  after  exploring  Lake  Erie,  also  went  to  the 
Mississippi  and  followed  it  to  its  mouth.  He  took  possession  of  all  terri- 
tory drained  by  that  river  in  the  name  of  the  French  king  (1681).  Their 
energies  brought  to  the  possession  of  the  French,  Canada,  and  Nova  Scotia 
and  Louisiana,  thus  hemming  in  the  English  colonies  on  the  north  and  on 
the  west  of  the  Appalachian  Mountains.  At  home  in  France,  a  galaxy  of 
talent  fostered  by  the  "Great  Monarch,"  Louis  XIV,  raised  France  to  her 
zenith  of  literary  glory.  Pascal  in  his  study,  Moliere  on  the  stage,  Bossuet 
in  the  pulpit — such  were  the  gigantic  figures  that  have  made  the  reign  of 
the  "Great  Monarch"  the  most  remarkable  in  French  history. 

The  time  was  sure  to  come — and  soon  to  come — when  the  conflicting 
claimants  of  the  American  continent  would  meet  face  to  face  in  a  struggle 
of  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  America  was  now  recognized  as  a  land  of 
vast  resources  and  it  was  seen  by  far-sighted  statesmen  that  its  broad  do- 
minion, its  rapidly  increasing  population,  and  its  natural  resources  would 
be  important  factors  in  determining  the  political  future  of  the  world.  Suc- 
cessive wars  in  Europe  throughout  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries 
were  to  determine  the  possession  of  the  territories  held  by  the  belligerent 
European  nations  in  America.  Battles  were  fought  here  as  well  as  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic  which  were  balancing  the  future  of  America  on 
the  point  of  the  sword.  The  diplomatists  began  to  calculate  the  value  of 
America  in  the  great  game  of  statescraft.  By  the  treaty  of  Ryswick 
(1697)  which  ended  the  war  of  the  Spanish  Succession  in  Europe  (known 
to  the  colonists  as  Queen  Anne's  War),  France  ceded  to  England,  Port 
Royal,  in  Nova  Scotia,  which  had  been  captured  by  the  English  colonists; 
and  by  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  at  the  close  of  1713,  the  English  received 
from  the  French  all  of  Nova  Scotia  and  right  to  the  Hudson  Bay  region. 

England  and  Spain  went  to  war  in  1739,  and  the  English  colonists 

62 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

captured  St.  Augustine,  Florida;  the  English  possessions  thereafter  ex- 
tended southward  into  what  had  formerly  been  Spanish  territory.  Strug- 
gles between  the  Swedish  and  Dutch  colonists  ended  with  the  disappear- 
ance of  Swedish  possessions;  and  in  1667  the  Dutch  traded  their  possessions 
in  North  America  for  the  English  possessions  in  Guiana,  on  the  coast  of 
South  America. 

War  between  the  French  and  English  colonists  in  America  was  at 
last  to  come  independently  of  the  relations  of  the  mother  countries.  The 
English  colonists,  by  pushing  west  and  north,  came  into  open  conflict  with 
the  French  colonists.  Though  England  and  France  were  at  peace  at  home, 
a  war  broke  out  between  their  colonies  in  America  in  1754.  This  is  known 
as  the  French  and  Indian  War,  because  these  two  formed  an  alliance 
against  the  English  settlers.  In  this  conflict,  George  Washington  had  his 
first  military  experience,  being  in  command  of  an  English  force  which  de- 
fended a  fort  on  the  present  site  of  Pittsburgh.  Warriors  from  England 
and  France  crossed  the  seas  and  crossed  swords  on  the  American  continent. 
Those  from  England  were  under  command  of  General  Braddock,  who,  in 
attempting  to  capture  Fort  Duquesne,  was  defeated,  because  he  would  not 
take  the  advice  of  Washington. 

The  mother  countries  were  soon  embroiled  in  European  politics,  and 
there  broke  out  the  Seven  Years'  War  in  1756.  By  the  Peace  of  Paris 
(1763),  which  brought  that  war  to  an  end,  the  victories  of  England  and 
her  colonists  won  for  her  (so  far  as  America  was  concerned)  all  of  the 
French  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi  and  all  of  Canada,  which  had  been 
conquered  by  Wolfe  against  Montcalm.  France  ceded  her  possessions  west 
of  the  Mississippi  to  Spain;  and  Spain,  in  turn,  ceded  Florida  to  England. 
France  had  lost  all  her  possession  in  North  America — the  only  traces  which 
remain  are  the  French-Canadians  in  Quebec  and  Montreal  and  the  French- 
speaking  Creoles  in  New  Orleans.  Possession  of  the  then  known  regions 
in  North  America  was  left  in  the  hands  of  only  two  nations,  England  and 
Spain,  and,  as  the  latter's  territory  consisted  only  of  Mexico,  it  was  to  Eng- 
land that  the  whole  of  what  was  then  known  of  North  America  belonged. 
Thus,  it  was  decided  and  from  this  moment  ordained  that  the  English 
tongue  should  be  the  language  of  this  great  people  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  Western  Hemisphere. 

The  American  Revolution — the  Birth  of  the  Republic 

WE  now  enter  upon  the  third  epoch  in  the  conquest  and  civiliza- 
tion of  the  New  World.     This  period  (1763-1789)  is  one  that 
vitally  concerns  every  American.     It  is  filled  with  the  angry 
protest  of  the  people  against  tyranny,  wrathful  denunciation  of  injustice, 

63 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

and  declaration  of  independence.  The  call  of  the  bugle  is  heard  in  the 
fields,  the  marching  feet  of  determined  men,  the  roar  of  the  cannon  rever- 
berates across  the  valleys.  We  look  into  the  sad  eyes  of  women ;  we  hear 
the  weeping  of  children,  and  we  catch  the  exultant  cry  of  a  new  people,  as 
a  new  flag  unfurls  before  the  breeze  at  the  head  of  marching  regiments, 
while  the  shrill  voice  of  the  fife  pierces  the  air  and  the  drum  beats — these 
are  the  men  who  fought  the  American  Revolution — the  minute  men  of 
1776,  the  Continental  Army,  the  Light  Horse  Cavalry;  the  farmers  and 
mechanics,  the  tradesmen  and  scholars — the  American  patriots  who  rose  in 
defense  of  human  rights  and  gave  to  the  world  the  American  nation. 

The  cause  of  wars,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  chapter  on  Great  Wars,  is 
fundamentally  economic.  The  trouble  came  through  England's  desire  to 
control  the  seas,  command  a  great  empire,  and  mold  the  policies  of  world 
trade.  This  was  the  natural  right  of  monarchy,  enforced  by  military 
power,  and  England  demanded  only  that  which  she  believed  to  be  her 
legitimate  heritage  under  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  right  of  kings.  But 
England  failed  in  one  thing — she  failed  to  comprehend  the  evolutionary 
forces  that  were  cumulating  toward  democracy;  she  failed  to  realize  the 
vastness  and  the  economic  destiny  of  the  American  continent,  and  she  failed 
to  understand  the  spirit  of  the  American  people  and  their  potential  power. 
Thus,  in  endeavoring  to  stay  the  laws  of  evolution,  she  plunged  into 
revolution,  probably  as  all  other  nations  would  (and  most  nations  have) 
under  similar  situations. 

There  is  no  spectacle  in  human  life  or  in  the  dramatic  development 
of  nations  so  tragic  as  that  of  war — human  misunderstandings,  fanned  by 
a  sense  of  injustice  into  anger,  hatred,  vengeance,  and  yet  ennobling  the 
spirit  of  man  in  inspiring  him  to  a  willingness  to  die  for  what  he  believes  to 
be  right;  a  sublime  unselfishness — a  complete  forgetfulness  of  self — for 
the  sake  of  what  he  believes  to  be  the  welfare  of  his  country.  The  Amer- 
ican Revolution  was  a  war  for  humanity;  it  was  fought  not  alone  for  the 
American  people  but  for  the  whole  human  race.  And  yet  its  origin  was 
economic  rather  than  altruistic.  It  began  with  a  sense  of  injustice  caused 
by  a  system  of  burdensome  taxation — a  revolt  against  the  yoke  of  mon- 
archy, which  came  to  its  culmination  in  the  birth  of  a  new  democracy. 

Money — that  is  the  root  of  most  evil  and  also  the  glory  of  most  hu- 
man achievement — the  dual  force  behind  human  progress.  The  recent 
wars  had  cost  England  much  money,  and,  as  the  colonies  had  benefited  by 
them  to  no  small  degree,  she  decided  that  they  must  bear  some  of  that  cost 
— such  seemed  reasonable  to  the  monarchy.  This  was  to  be  done  by  mak- 
ing them  pay  tribute  to  the  navigation  laws,  which  provided  that  all  trade 
to  or  from  the  colonies  with  England  or  any  other  country  must  go  in 

64 


COLUMBUS    CROSSING   THE   SEAS   TO   AMERICA— His   fleet    consisted   of   three   ships  ;   each 

had  a  crew  of  90  men — His  sailors  threatened  to  throw  him  overboard — He 

sighted  land  after  70  days  of  perilous  adventure. 


LANDING  OF  COLUMIU'S  IN  AMERICA — A   cannon  shot  announced   the  discovery  of  It 
October  lli,  14!>'J — He  landed  at  San  Salvador  and  throwing  himself  upon 
his  knees,  kissed  the  earth,   returning  thanks  to  God. 


CELEBRATION  OF  AMERICAN  LIBERTY — This  rare  engraving  shows   the  raising  of  the  liberty   pole  dedi- 
cated to  American  independence  in  1776 — The  original  was  engraved  by  James  (.'.  McRae  and 
exhibited   during  the   centenary   of  independence  at  Exposition  in 


GLIMPSE  OF  AMERICAN  LIFE  IN  1770 — Here  we  witness  the  jubilation  which  swept  the  country  preceding 

the  American  Revolution — The  spirit  here  shown  was  given  expression  In  the  Declaration  of 

Independence — It  \s  Interesting  to  note    the    costumes    and    custQWS., 


z  a 
-•o 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

English  ships  or  ships  owned  by  colonists,  and  that  manufactured  goods 
leaving  the  colonies  must  go  to  an  English  port  before  being  sent  to  a  for- 
eign purchaser,  or  pay  an  export  duty.  The  cost  of  the  recent  wars  was 
also  to  be  met  by  taxes  on  sugar  and  molasses  brought  into  the  colonies,  and 
by  a  stamp  tax  by  which  every  legal  document  executed  in  the  colonies  was 
to  bear  a  stamp  costing  from  six  cents  to  fifty  dollars,  according  to  the  im- 
portance of  the  document.  The  first  two  methods  of  raising  money  in  the 
colonies  were  not  new ;  the  new  stamp  tax  was  to  go  into  effect  on  Novem- 
ber i,  1765. 

The  British  statesmen  were  born  rulers ;  they  believed  they  knew  how 
to  pacify  the  people.  So  they  announced  that  the  money  raised  by  these 
means  was  to  go  toward  paying  for  the  defense  of  the  colonies.  But  the 
American  spirit  was  near  eruption;  it  was  struggling  to  break  the  chains. 
The  colonists  declared  that  the  taxes  were  odious,  both  in  the  hardships 
which  they  imposed  on  the  people  here  and  in  the  fact  that  the  people  re- 
sented the  right  of  the  English  Parliament  to  tax  them.  They  took  up  the 
cry  that  "taxation  without  representation  is  tyranny"  and  made  resistance 
against  such  taxation.  But  this  principle  in  equity  was  not  understood 
by  the  English  Parliament,  for  that  body  was  taxing  Englishmen  who  were 
by  no  means  properly  represented  in  it. 

The  colonists  defied  the  monarchy.  They  refused  to  use  the  hated 
stamps.  So  united  were  they  in  their  opposition  to  the  tax  that  it  was  re- 
pealed in  1766.  But  England  considered  it  necessary  to  introduce  severe 
measures  to  maintain  the  authority  of  the  monarchy.  It  passed  the  Town- 
send  Acts,  which  required  the  people  of  New  York  to  quarter  British  troops 
or  to  give  up  their  legislature,  provided  for  strict  enforcement  of  trade  laws 
at  Boston,  and  for  taxes  on  certain  goods,  tea  included.  The  breach 
widened — the  crisis  was  near.  Colonial  assemblies  were  dissolved  for  of- 
fending the  king.  Troops  from  England  began  to  arrive  in  1770.  The 
colonists  refused  to  quarter  them.  In  Boston  the  matter  became  so  serious 
that  in  the  same  year  a  riot  followed.  The  troops  fired  on  a  crowd — this 
was  the  "Boston  Massacre." 

British  America  was  aroused.  England  now  found  it  necessary  to 
recede  from  her  position.  She  took  the  tax  off  all  goods  coming  into  the 
colonies,  with  the  exception  of  tea.  But  it  was  too  late ;  democracy  was  on 
its  virgin  bed — soon  to  be  born  in  blood.  The  people  here  were  determined 
to  tolerate  no  tax  imposed  by  a  parliament  in  which  they  had  no  repre- 
sentation and  decided  to  evade  the  tax  by  importing  no  tea.  At  Boston  the 
populace  attempted  to  send  cargoes  of  tea  back  to  England.  The  authori- 
ties by  prohibiting  it  precipitated  the  raid  known  as  the  "Boston  Tea 
Party."  Several  young  men,  dressed  as  Indians,  dumped  the  cargoes  of  tea 

69 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

into  Boston  Harbor.  Parliament  struck  back  in  retaliation  and  passed  five 
acts :  closing  the  port  of  Boston ;  providing  for  the  trials  of  offending  col- 
onists in  England;  giving  Massachusetts  a  military  governor;  forcing  the 
people  to  quarter  troops;  and  enlarging  the  province  of  Quebec  so  that  it 
encroached  on  territory  claimed  by  Massachusetts. 

The  alarmed  colonies  organized  for  concerted  action.  The  first  Con- 
tinental Congress  assembled  on  September  5,  1774.  It  was  a  gathering  of 
determined  men — representatives  from  all  the  colonies,  excepting  Georgia. 
It  met  at  Philadelphia  with  much  fervid  oratory  and  passed  addresses  to 
the  colonists,  to  the  Canadians,  to  the  people  in  England,  and  to  the  king. 
It  drew  up  a  Declaration  of  Rights,  asserting  these  rights  to  be  those  of 
life,  liberty,  and  property,  the  right  to  tax  themselves,  to  peaceable  assem- 
bly, to  address  petitions  to  the  king,  and  to  enjoy  the  rights  of  Englishmen 
and  those  which  were  provided  for  in  the  colonial  charters.  It  declared, 
further,  that  these  rights  had  been  violated  by  the  English  authorities. 
Before  adjourning  it  agreed  to  meet  again  in  May,  1775* 

We  now  look  up  the  most  memorable  event  in  the  history  of  Amer- 
ica. It  is  July  4th,  1776 — and  there  has  never  been  a  4th  of  July  since 
that  the  American  people  have  not  celebrated  this  event.  It  marked  the 
birth  of  the  greatest  republic  the  human  race  has  ever  known.  For  months 
the  Continental  Congress  had  been  in  session  at  Philadelphia  and  every 
day  of  that  time  it  had  been  a  challenge  to  British  monarchy.  The  colonies 
were  actually  in  a  state  of  revolt.  Congress  was  working  with  all  of  its 
might  to  arm  the  country.  The  very  words  and  phrases  that  have  been 
immortalized  by  the  Declaration  of  Independence  had  long  been  heard  on 
every  lip  from  Maine  to  Georgia. 

Congress  met  in  the  Spring  of  1776.  It  was  evident  that  no  peti- 
tion would  again  be  addressed  to  His  Majesty's  Government.  Public 
opinion  in  the  colonies  was  divided  on  the  subject  of  separation.  It  now 
required  spirits  of  the  most  heroic  mold  to  set  up  an  independent  govern- 
ment in  the  face  of  the  persistent  claim  of  the  people  that  they  were  not 
rebels  in  demanding  their  rights.  But  so  numerous  and  determined  had 
grown  the  separatists  that  in  May  they  compelled  the  Congress  to  pass  a 
resolution  calling  upon  the  colonies  to  form  independent  governments. 

This  wave  of  patriotism  had  not  subsided  when  Richard  Henry  Lee, 
the  spokesman  of  the  Virginia  delegation,  arose  in  the  Continental  Con- 
gress on  June  7th  and  said  that  he  had  received  instructions  from  the  Coun- 
cil of  Virginia  to  move  the  following  resolution:  "That  these  United 
States  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be  free  and  independent  States ;  that  they 
are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown;  that  all  political 
connection  between  them  and  Great  Britain  is  and  ought  to  be  totally  dis- 

70 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

solved."  John  Adams  was  on  his  feet,  seconding  this  resolution,  before 
Lee  could  take  his  seat. 

The  gauge  of  battle  had  been  thrown  down.  The  fifty-six  immortal 
members  of  that  Congress,  in  considering  Lee's  resolution,  knew  that  they 
were  precipitating  a  crisis.  The  Journal  of  the  Congress  is  as  silent  as 
the  grave  on  what  passed  after  John  Adams  arose,  except  to  note  "that 
certain  resolutions  were  moved  and  seconded  and  the  consideration  of 
them  was  deferred  till  to-morrow  morning  and  the  members  were  enjoined 
to  attend  promptly  at  10  o'clock."  The  delegates  were  seriously  divided; 
but  in  order  to  lose  no  time  a  committee,  consisting  of  Thomas  Jefferson, 
John  Adams,  Benjamin  Franklin,  Roger  Sherman,  and  Robert  Livingston, 
was  appointed  to  prepare  a  Declaration. 

Jefferson  was  selected  to  write  the  Declaration.  In  a  little  room 
on  the  corner  of  Market  and  Seventh  Streets,  he  toiled  over  the  document, 
writing  and  rewriting  it.  For  several  days  the  Congress  had  the  Declara- 
tion under  consideration.  It  was  known  that  the  separatists  lacked  only 
one  vote  of  having  a  certain  majority.  One  of  the  eloquent  members  was 
making  a  speech  in  favor  of  adopting  the  Declaration,  drawing  on  nu- 
merous letters  and  documents  from  each  of  the  States  to  prove  that  public 
opinion  favored  the  separation.  Coming  to  North  Carolina,  he  gathered 
up  an  armful  of  letters  and  resolutions  and  read  them  with  wonderful 
dramatic  effect.  Mr.  Hewes,  who  had  constantly  voted  against  the 
Declaration,  suddenly  lifted  his  hand  and  almost  shouted:  "It  is  done, 
I  will  abide  by  it." 

A  look  of  terror  swept  over  the  faces  of  the  members  who  had  per- 
sistently opposed  the  Declaration.  In  that  tense  moment  of  the  drama, 
the  Republic  of  the  United  States  was  born.  Something,  however,  more 
than  a  mere  majority  was  needed  to  secure  the  safe  passage  of  this  mo- 
mentous bill  of  rights.  The  desired  majority  was  finally  obtained.  Lee's 
resolution  was  adopted  on  July  2nd,  1776.  This  act  separated  the  col- 
onies from  the  mother  country.  The  formal  declaration  was  adopted  on 
July  4th.  How  many  speeches  were  made  on  that  first  4th  of  July 
in  American  history,  what  was  said  and  how  the  vote  was  taken,  have  never 
been  revealed.  Only  John  Hancock,  the  President  of  Congress,  and 
Charles  Thompson,  the  Secretary,  signed  the  document  then. 

There  was  no  crowd  about  Independence  Hall  on  that  day.  The 
document  was  published  in  the  Philadelphia  Packet  two  days  later,  and 
on  the  8th  it  was  read  from  Independence  Hall  to  a  crowd  in  the  Square. 
Liberty  bell  was  not  rung.  The  crowd  did,  however,  tear  down  the  king's 
coat  of  arms  in  the  State  House.  On  August  2nd  all  the  members  of  the 
Congress  present  signed  the  Declaration.  There  it  was  that  John  Han- 

71 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

cock  warned  the  members:  "We  must  all  hang  together";  and  Franklin 
made  his  famous  witty  reply:  "If  not  we  shall  all  hang  separately." 

The  American  Revolution  marked  the  end  of  the  British  hopes  for  sub- 
duing the  Colonies.  Colonies  they  were  no  longer;  by  November,  1783, 
the  last  British  force  had  sailed  for  home.  Washington  resigned  his  com- 
mission and  returned  to  his  estate  at  Mount  Vernon.  The  treaty  of  peace 
was  signed  in  1783,  and  the  boundaries  of  the  United  States  were  denned 
as  a  line  running  from  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix  River  to  Maine,  thence 
to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods;  west  along  a  line  running  due  west  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi, down  that  river  to  31  north  latitude,  eastward  along  that  parallel 
to  the  Apalachicola  River,  and  by  the  present  northern  boundary  of  Florida 
to  the  Atlantic.  It  was  an  area  of  827,844  square  miles  inhabited  by  three 
and  a  quarter  million  souls — a  mighty  nucleus  for  a  new  nation  and  a  new 
nationality. 

Building  of  a  Great  Nation — and  Its  Development 

THE  scenes  now  change  from  Spartan  valor  on  the  battlefields  to 
Solonistic  statesmanship  in  the  halls  of  liberty.  We  witness  the 
tremendous  spectacle  of  the  building  of  a  nation  and  pass  through 
the  first  period  of  National  Development — from  1789  to  1861 — 72  years. 
This  period  brings  us  face  to  face  with  the  great  figures  that  laid  the  foun- 
dations of  the  Republic.  Here  we  see  the  inaugural  procession  of  Wash- 
ington— his  inauguration,  his  inaugural  ball.  We  meet  Hamilton,  Ad- 
ams, Jefferson — and  the  statesmen  of  the  new  democracy.  We  visit  the 
old  colonial  houses.  There  is  the  War  of  1812,  the  War  with  Mexico. 
This  is  interspersed  with  the  development  of  invention — the  steamship, 
railroad;  territorial  acquisition,  the  Louisiana  Purchase,  the  beginning  of 
the  West,  the  gold  seekers,  the  whole  wonderful  panorama  of  the  awaken- 
ing of  a  giant  in  civilization. 

Let  us  begin  to  view  the  panorama  in  the  days  immediately  following 
the  triumph  of  the  Revolution.  While  the  troops  of  the  colonies  had  been 
fighting  in  the  field  their  statesmen  were  preparing  for  a  union  of  their 
governments.  An  agreement  known  as  the  "Articles  of  Confederation" 
had  been  drawn  up  by  the  Continental  Congress  in  1777.  It  was  a  heroic 
task  to  attempt  to  unite  all  the  conflicting  interests,  all  the  diverse  ideas, 
all  the  various  interpretations  of  liberty,  under  one  instrument.  Conflicts 
about  the  lands  claimed  by  the  various  colonies  kept  some  of  them  from 
ratifying  these  articles  until  1781;  and  then  they  were  of  little  practical 
value  as  governmental  machinery  because  they  gave  Congress  such  limited 
powers.  Most  serious  was  the  prohibiting  of  taxation  at  the  hands  of  that 
body.  The  various  interests  hesitated  to  contribute  their  individual  priv- 

72 


BEGINNING    OF   RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY    IN    AMERICA— This    engraving   shows    the    religious 

regicides  as  they  fled  from  the  Old  World  to  take  ship  for  the  New  World 

to  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  conscience. 


FIRST  LANDING  OF  THE  PILGRIMS  IN  AMERICA— The  Mayflower,  after  a  stormy  voyage 

pf  63  days  ;  anchored  off  Cape  Cod,  with  102  passengers — They  landed  at 

Plymouth  Rocfc  to  establish  a  colony  in  November,  1620, 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

ileges  to  the  common  consent  of  all — it  was  difficult  to  divest  themselves. 
Autocracy  still  fought  inwardly  with  democracy. 

The  great  crisis  came  on  a  May  day  in  Independence  Hall,  in  Phila- 
delphia. The  representatives  from  all  the  colonies  met  in  convention,  and 
fought  out  in  debate  the  issues  involved,  coming  to  a  final  agreement  after 
months  of  discussion,  in  the  epoch-making  instrument  known  as  "the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States" — the  greatest  creation  of  governmental  ma- 
chinery ever  devised  by  human  minds.  Its  provisions  will  be  found  in 
another  chapter.  It  here  suffices  to  say  that  it  was  ratified  by  the  ninth 
State  on  June  21,  1788,  and  on  that  date  became  operative. 

The  first  presidential  election  was  held  in  1788.  This,  too,  is  de- 
scribed in  the  chapter  on  "Great  American  Campaigns."  The  people  chose 
as  the  first  President  of  the  Republic,  their  war  hero — Washington,  and  on 
the  3oth  of  April,  1789,  he  took  the  oath  of  office  on  a  spot  still  designated 
in  Wall  Street,  New  York,  amid  the  shouts  and  cheers  of  the  populace. 

The  first  work  of  the  first  administration  was  a  gigantic  task — that 
of  putting  into  effect  the  machinery  of  government  provided  for  by  the 
Constitution.  A  tariff  law  was  passed,  that  money  might  come  to  the  na- 
tional treasury;  the  federal  courts  were  established;  the  executive  depart- 
ments were  established,  and  their  heads  became  the  President's  cabinet;  and 
a  national  debt  was  contracted. 

The  problem  of  financing  the  new  nation  fell  upon  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton, first  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  To  him  the  financial  matters  were  en- 
trusted. A  national  debt  of  $1 1,700,000  was  due  to  Holland,  France  and 
Spain,  for  aid  during  the  Revolution ;  a  domestic  debt  of  $42,000,000 ;  and 
State  debts  amounted  to  about  $21,000,000.  For  the  redemption  of  these, 
Hamilton  bonded  the  first  two  and  assumed  and  funded  the  State  debts. 
Congress  then  ordered  stock  bearing  interest  to  be  issued  in  exchange  for  the 
old  debts.  In  1790  the  National  Debt  amounted  to  $75,000,000.  The 
matter  of  funding  the  State  debts  was  opposed  by  men  from  Virginia  and 
Pennsylvania  in  Congress,  and  in  order  to  get  these  members  to  agree  to  it, 
a  compromise  was  made  whereby  Congress  provided  that  for  ten  years  the 
national  capital  should  be  Philadelphia,  instead  of  New  York,  and  that 
thereafter  it  should  be  in  a  new  city  on  the  Potomac.  This  resulted  in  the 
building  of  the  city  of  Washington,  where  the  National  Government  was 
established  in  1800. 

The  genius  required  to  finance  a  nation  is  equally  as  great  as  that  re- 
quired to  win  its  battles — and  especially  a  new  nation  in  an  experimental 
stage  without  credit.  Moreover,  it  is  a  much  larger  problem  to  promote 
a  republic  than  to  finance  a  monarchy.  Thus,  the  foundation  arch  to  a 
democracy  must  have  two  pillars — industry  with  finance  to  maintain  it — 

75 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

labor  with  capital  to  promote  it — men  and  money  as  a  medium  for  ex- 
changing their  services.  Neither  can  exist  without  the  other  under  the 
present  age  of  human  development. 

How  to  finance  the  American  nation  was  its  most  serious  problem 
after  it  had  won  its  independence;  how  could  it  maintain  this  indepen- 
dence? A  national  bank  was  established  during  the  first  administration. 
Under  Hamilton's  plan,  there  was  to  be  capital  stock  amounting  to  ten  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  two  millions  of  which  were  to  be  raised  by  the  government 
and  the  remaining  amount  by  popular  subscription.  The  parent  bank, 
then  located  at  Philadelphia,  established  branches  throughout  the  country, 
made  payments  through  them,  received  moneys  due  the  government  and  is- 
sued bills  which  were  to  be  received  all  over  the  country  for  duties,  postage 
and  other  payments  to  the  government.  Despite  opposition  it  was  granted 
a  charter  for  twenty  years  and  began  business  in  1791.  These  financial 
measures  gave  confidence  to  the  people  in  their  governmental  experiment 
and  also  brought  the  confidence  of  foreign  countries. 

But  every  step  of  progress,  every  idea  in  political  economy — was 
vigorously  challenged.  No  measures  were  carried  through  Congress  with- 
out great  debate  both  among  its  members  and  among  the  people  outside. 
Self-government  means  conflict  of  ideas.  Human  nature  questions  mo- 
tives. The  psychology  of  human  nature  enters  as  much  or  more  into  de- 
mocracy than  does  the  science  of  economics ;  one  is  a  temperamental  fact — 
the  other  is  a  mechanical  theory.  The  individual  States  were  jealous  of 
the  powers  that  they  formerly  had — powers  which  were  inheritances  from 
the  days  when  they  were  colonies  working  under  charters  held  from  the 
English  government.  In  each  State  there  were  men  who  disliked  what 
they  called  the  outside  influences  of  the  Federal  Government. 

The  issue  was  clear — it  was  soon  seen  that  the  future  must  decide 
whether  the  Federal  Government  should  be  more  powerful  than  the  State 
Governments  or  whether  the  converse  should  be  true.  Those  who  held  out 
for  the  supremacy  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  for  stronger  federal  feeling 
and  operation,  were  called  Federalists.  They  soon  had  their  opponents 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  Union,  and  these  opponents  organized  them- 
selves into  a  political  party  known  as  the  Democratic  Republicans.  Among 
their  leaders  were  Jefferson,  Randolph,  Monroe,  Madison,  and  Gallatin. 
An  early  test  of  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Government  in  internal  affairs 
came.  Certain  farmers  in  Pennsylvania,  who  had  their  own  stills  and  re- 
fused to  pay  the  internal  revenue  on  their  output  of  whiskey,  rebelled  and 
were  put  down  by  a  force  of  militia  from  neighboring  States.  This  came 
to  be  known  as  the  Whiskey  Rebellion. 

Differences  of  opinion — based  frequently  on  self-interests  or  individ- 

76 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

ual  interpretations  of  human  existence,  cause  political  parties.  As  has  been 
shown,  the  matter  of  difference  of  opinion  which  brought  about  the  birth 
of  one  political  party,  was  due  to  open  questions  on  the  internal  policies  of 
the  Government.  But  foreign  affairs  and  threatened  "world  wars"  were 
to  occupy  official  minds  after  1792  and  it  so  happened  that  there  came 
the  same  alignment  of  opinion  on  these  questions  as  there  had  been  on  in- 
ternal affairs.  It  is  interesting  to  note  the  attitude  of  the  American  people 
during  this  world  crisis.  When  the  French  Revolution  got  under  way,  in 
1 789,  the  people  in  America,  as  well  as  those  in  Europe,  watched  its  succes- 
sive stages  with  great  interest.  When  the  French  populace  started  to  go  to 
extremes,  after  1792,  beheading  its  king  and  falling  into  the  hands  of  po- 
litical leaders  who  did  not  hesitate  at  the  worst  crimes,  the  people  in  the 
United  States,  as  did  those  in  other  countries,  divided  in  their  opinions: 
some  upheld  the  actions  of  the  French  radicals ;  some  deplored  those  actions. 
When  war  came  between  France  and  England,  Washington  decided  to  take 
a  neutral  position. 

This  immediately  called  up  the  disfavor  of  the  Republicans  who 
claimed  that  he  should  stand  by  France,  our  erstwhile  friend  and  against 
England,  our  erstwhile  enemy.  To  make  this  position  more  difficult  for 
the  President  there  came  the  interference  with  American  commerce  by  Eng- 
land in  her  efforts  against  France,  until  Jay  obtained  a  treaty  with  Eng- 
land (1794)  which  settled  that  matter  to  some  extent.  In  the  following 
year  a  treaty  with  Spain  settled  the  disputed  matter  of  the  northern  boun- 
dary of  Florida  and  gave  American  ships  the  right  to  pass  through  her  pos- 
sessions, which  included  both  sides  of  the  shore  at  the  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. 

The  political  and  economic  foundations  of  a  nation  are  so  essentially 
the  root  from  which  the  people  themselves  have  grown  that  these  annals 
must  be  related  in  other  chapters.  Neither  can  we  linger  here  to  consider 
the  social  conditions  other  than  occasionally  to  suggest  the  home  life  and 
character  of  the  people  in  its  process  of  national  evolution.  We  look  now 
upon  Washington  for  the  last  time.  He  is  aged  with  the  stupendous  bur- 
dens placed  on  his  shoulders — a  modern  Atlas  supporting  the  New  World. 
With  dignity  of  bearing,  classical  features,  cultured  voice,  we  see  him  as  he 
stands  before  the  populace,  after  serving  two  terms,  and  hear  him  delivering 
his  famous  Farewell  Address  in  1797.  He  was  succeeded  by  John  Adams, 
the  candidate  of  the  Federalists.  Thomas  Jefferson,  candidate  set  up  by 
the  Republicans,  received  the  next  largest  number  of  votes  and  became 
Vice-President.  Three  days  after  the  inauguration  a  crisis  occurred — the 
American  Minister  to  France  (Pinckney)  was  driven  from  that  country  by 
the  French  Directory,  the  five  men  who  were  then  governing  France  in  lieu 

77 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

of  any  other  government.  They  were  grieved  because  Jay's  treaty  with 
England  amicably  settled  the  differences  that  had  existed  between  England 
and  America  and  because  it  precluded  the  possibility  of  those  two  coun- 
tries going  to  war. 

Angry  over  the  insult,  President  Adams  yielded  to  pressure  and  agita- 
tion and  sent  Marshall,  Gerry  and  Pinckney  to  Paris  as  a  delegation  to  set- 
tle the  differences  with  France.  Much  to  the  amazement  of  the  American 
people,  agents  of  the  French  Directory  approached  these  men  and  proposed 
that  they  apologize  for  the  denunciation  our  President  had  made  about 
France,  that  each  of  the  Directors  be  given  an  indemnity  of  $50,000,  and 
that  tribute  be  paid  to  France.  The  Americans  were  aroused.  The  cry  of 
"millions  for  defence,  not  one  cent  for  tribute"  rang  through  the  country. 
It  looked  for  a  time  as  though  we  should  go  to  war.  During  the  outburst 
of  patriotism  which  followed,  the  national  song,  "Hail  Columbia,"  was 
written  and  its  strains  were  echoed  from  town  to  town. 

National  spirit  rose  to  a  high  point.  This  culminated  in  the  passage 
of  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Acts  which  provided  that  no  foreigner  might 
become  a  citizen  until  he  had  resided  here  nine  years.  These  acts  also  de- 
nned sedition  as  speaking  or  writing  about  any  member  of  the  Federal 
Government  with  abuse,  and  provided  for  proper  punishment.  These  laws 
were  carried  out  with  vigor.  Opposition  to  them  was  wide  and  aggressive. 
Resolutions  were  passed  declaring  them  to  be  unconstitutional  and  pro- 
claiming that  when  such  laws  are  passed  any  State  that  insists  upon  their 
unconstitutionally  had  the  right  to  secede  from  the  Union.  Thus  was 
born  the  doctrine  of  nullification.  Meantime,  war  with  France  did  come 
and  the  navy  of  the  United  States  carried  on  a  vigorous  campaign  against 
French  commerce.  The  Directory  fell  from  power  before  terms  of  peace 
could  be  broached.  Napoleon  became  First  Consul  of  the  French  Empire. 
These  martial  acts  caused  the  raising  of  new  revenue  in  the  United  States 
in  the  form  of  a  stamp  tax  and  a  direct  tax  on  land,  houses  and  slaves ;  they 
caused  so  much  opposition  in  certain  parts  of  the  country  that  the  President 
had  to  call  out  the  militia  to  restore  quiet.  A  second  time  it  had  been 
shown  that  the  Federal  Government  was  determined  to  uphold  the  Con- 
stitution. 

The  Nineteenth  Century  opened  with  many  forebodings  for  democ- 
racy. The  Napoleonic  wars  were  to  crush  Europe  under  the  iron  heel  of 
the  conqueror  in  the  name  of  republican  government — and  finally  to  over- 
throw the  conqueror. 

The  beginning  of  the  new  century  brought  Jefferson  into  the  Presi- 
dency— a  victory  for  the  Democratic  Republicans.  And  in  this  administra- 
tion we  find  the  young  American  nation  entering  upon  a  new  era  of  mighty 

78 


UOME  LIFE  IN  EARLY  AMERICA — Glimpse  of  an  interior  of  a  pioneer's  home  in  New  England 

during  first  century  of  English  colonization — Here  we  see  the  Puritans  in  their 

log  cabins  laying  the  foundations  for  the  American  nation. 


FIRST    MISSIONARY    AMONG   THE    INDIANS*— Here   we   see   John    Eliot,   who   arrived    from. 

England  in   1G31,   delivering  the  first  sermon   to  the   Indians  in   their  native 

tongue  on  the  American  continent — Eliot  translated  the  Bible, 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

expansion — we  sprang  suddenly  from  a  little  group  of  struggling  States 
into  a  great  empire.  Here  we  record  the  greatest  real  estate  transaction  in 
the  world's  history — the  Louisiana  Purchase  which  brought  the  Great  West 
into  the  American  nation.  And  this  all  came  about  through  the  Napoleonic 
wars.  The  only  real  victor  in  the  Napoleonic  wars  was  the  United  States 
— and  it  gained  its  victory  through  its  neutrality.  Europe  was  devastated 
by  the  ravages  of  war;  England  defended  itself  from  being  crushed  out  of 
existence  and  won  notable  military  honor — but  the  American  nation  won 
a  continental  dominion.  This  all  resulted  from  the  fact  that  Napoleon 
needed  money — and  we  were  able  to  supply  it.  At  this  time  the  American 
nation  was  crowded  into  a  small  corner  of  the  continent.  The  western 
boundary  of  the  United  States  was  the  Mississippi  River.  The  Spanish 
flag  floated  over  the  territory  west  of  that  river  from  the  British  posses- 
sions on  the  north  to  Brazil  on  the  south.  The  southern  boundary  of  the 
United  States  was  the  3ist  parallel  of  latitude,  and  the  Spanish  Floridas 
occupied  all  the  intervening  country  below  that  line  from  the  Atlantic 
Coast  to  the  Mississippi  River,  completely  shutting  off  the  American  peo- 
ple from  all  communication  with  the  Gulf.  The  ambitious  Napoleon 
had  secured  control  of  Louisiana  in  1800  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a 
great  western  empire — ultimately  to  absorb  the  American  republic.  But 
his  plans  were  not  materializing.  France  was  humiliated  and  in  want  of 
money.  England  was  preparing  to  seize  the  French  possessions  in  Amer- 
ica, which  had  two  years  before  been  ceded  back  by  Spain  to  France,  and 
New  Orleans  and  the  Mississippi  River  were  the  objective  points  of  attack. 
Twenty  ships  from  the  British  navy  were  cruising  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
off  the  mouth  of  the  river,  waiting  for  the  conflict.  Napoleon  was  alive 
to  the  situation,  and  resolved  to  checkmate  England  in  her  plan  to  obtain 
the  coveted  prize. 

Accordingly,  on  the  loth  of  April,  1803,  Napoleon  announced  to  two 
of  his  counselors,  that  he  had  determined  to  sell  his  American  possessions 
to  the  United  States.  His  startling  proposition  met  with  opposition.  The 
next  day  he  held  audience  with  them  again,  and  it  was  then  and  there  de- 
cided that  war  with  England  was  inevitable;  that  money  was  needed  to 
carry  it  on ;  that  they  could  not  hold  their  American  territory  against  Eng- 
land. The  only  alternative  being  an  immediate  sale  of  the  country  for 
money,  or  a  seizure  without  it;  they  resolved  to  sell. 

Livingston,  the  American  minister  at  Paris,  was  apprised  of  this  prop- 
osition, but  it  so  far  exceeded  the  limits  of  his  instructions,  that  he  could 
not  negotiate  without  authority  from  Washington.  To  communicate  with 
Washington,  and  obtain  a  reply,  would  occupy  about  three  months.  Such 
a  delay  would  be  hazardous  to  the  interests  of  France  and  the  United 

81 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

States.  But  the  new  minister,  James  Monroe,  was  already  on  his  way  to 
Paris,  and  when  he  arrived  there  the  proposition  was  submitted  to  him. 
Though  it  exceeded  his  instructions,  he  took  the  responsibility  of  making 
the  treaty  and  it  was  signed  April  3Oth,  1803.  It  stipulated  that  the 
United  States  should  pay  80,000,000  francs;  and,  as  part  of  the  same 
transaction,  20,000,000  francs  should  be  applied  by  die  United  States 
at  Washington,  to  the  payment  of  certain  claims  owed  by  France  to  Ameri- 
can citizens,  if  they  should  amount  to  that  sum.  The  amount  finally 
agreed  upon  was  $3,738,268.98.  The  whole  sum  actually  paid  was  in 
round  numbers  $16,000,000 — less  than  two  cents  for  each  one  hundred 
acres  of  land  conveyed. 

This  epoch-making  transaction  in  America  precipitated  the  war  be- 
tween England  and  France.  The  matter  was  conducted  so  secretly  and 
expeditiously,  that  the  minister  of  England  at  Paris  knew  nothing  of  the 
negotiations  till  after  the  treaty  was  signed.  On  learning  that  fact,  he  at 
once  demanded  his  passports  and  left  for  England.  The  French  ambas- 
sador at  the  Court  of  St.  James  also  took  his  passport  and  left.  The  events 
which  followed  need  no  description  here.  The  clash  of  arms  between  these 
two  great  powers  and  their  allies  shook  the  world  from  center  to  circumfer- 
ence. Napoleon,  who  had  carried  the  eagles  of  France  in  triumph  through 
a  hundred  battles,  was  to  go  down  in  the  conflict  a  few  years  later  at 
Waterloo,  and  Wellington,  the  Iron  Duke,  was  to  mount  the  pedestal  of 
fame,  as  the  conquering  hero  of  the  world. 

The  purport  of  this  transaction  in  America  is  but  little  understood  or 
comprehended  by  the  people  of  this  country  even  to-day.  It  brought  to 
the  American  nation  a  territory  much  larger  in  extent  than  the  thirteen 
original  States  of  the  Union;  greater  in  agricultural  resources  and  richer  in 
mineral  wealth.  It  brought  us  mountains,  magnificent  in  grandeur;  the 
most  beautiful  scenery  on  the  hemisphere ;  and  its  river  courses  the  longest 
in  the  world.  Twelve  great  States,  each  nearly  double  the  size  of  New 
York,  have  already  been  admitted  into  the  Union  out  of  territory  east  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains;  and  there  was  in  addition,  the  Indian  Territory, 
with  64,690  square  miles,  and  the  Yellowstone,  or  National  Park,  with 
3,575  square  miles.  There  was  also  taken  from  Florida,  eventually,  south 
of  the  3  ist  parallel  of  latitude,  2,300  square  miles  to  be  added  to  Alabama, 
and  also  3,600  square  miles  which  was  added  to  Mississippi,  to  give  to 
those  two  States  a  water  front  upon  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

This  territory  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Pacific  Ocean,  then  an 
unbroken  wilderness,  is  to-day  a  great  empire,  bustling  with  activities — its 
development  too  rapid  to  be  calculated,  and  its  possibilities  too  great  to  be 
computed.  Sixteen  millions  of  dollars  was  a  large  sum  for  our  country  to 

82 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

assume  at  that  early  date,  and  yet,  the  sum  paid  for  the  entire  purchase  is 
not  equal  to  the  product  of  the  mines  in  Montana  for  one  month,  or  the 
wheat  of  Kansas  or  the  corn  of  Iowa  for  a  single  year. 

How  much  this  nation  and  the  world  at  large  is  indebted  to  Thomas 
Jefferson  and  James  Monroe,  for  the  peaceful  acquisition  of  this  territory 
amid  threatening  and  impending  difficulties,  can  never  be  told  or  compre- 
hended. This  purchase  gave  us  the  breadth  of  the  continent  from  ocean 
to  ocean,  the  command  of  its  rivers  and  harbors,  the  wealth  of  its  moun- 
tains, its  plains  and  valleys,  a  country  sweeping  from  the  Gulf  to  the  Lakes 
and  the  Lakes  to  the  Sea,  in  which  is  being  worked  out  the  sublimest  prob- 
lems of  human  life  and  of  self-government  in  the  interests  of  the  people. 
Without  it  to-day  the  country,  if  in  existence  at  all — hemmed  in  by  Eu- 
ropean powers  on  three  sides — would  be  a  struggling,  provincial,  inconse- 
quential people. 

The  Napoleonic  wars  shook  the  foundations  of  Europe.  The  United 
States  continued  to  remain  neutral  but  with  much  difficulty.  Crises  con- 
stantly arose  which  threatened  to  drag  us  into  the  maelstrom.  The  warring 
nations  waged  a  war  to  injure  commerce  and  trade.  England  passed  an 
order  in  Council,  which  declared  the  whole  coast  of  Europe — now  in  con- 
trol of  Napoleon  ( 1806) — to  be  blockaded.  It  was  a  paper  blockade;  no 
ships  actually  carried  it  out,  but  American  vessels  were  seized  for  "running" 
it.  In  retaliation  Napoleon  issued  the  Berlin  decree,  declaring  a  "paper 
blockade"  against  the  British  Isles.  American  ships  were  now  seized  by 
the  French. 

The  two  nations  then  issued  further  decrees  with  the  result  that  almost 
all  trade  between  America  and  Europe  was  stopped.  To  combat  France 
and  England,  the  administration  passed  a  non-intercourse  act  forbidding 
the  importation  of  all  goods  from  those  countries.  Reforms  were  made 
in  the  American  navy  and  a  new  treaty  made  with  England ;  but  it  made 
no  mention  of  our  rights  on  the  seas  nor  of  the  impressment  of  American 
sailors  by  the  English.  Smuggling  made  the  embargo,  and  a  successor  to 
it,  worthless  and  the  outrages  against  American  ships  went  right  on.  This 
was  the  critical  situation,  when  Jefferson's  second  term  came  to  an  end. 
Following  Washington's  precedent,  he  refused  to  stand  as  candidate  for  a 
third  term,  and  Madison  became  President  in  1809. 

America  Drawn  Toward  Vortex  of  Napoleonic  Wars 

THE  Napoleonic  wars  still  drew  America  toward  the  vortex.     The 
troubles  over  shipping  were  again  imminent.     The  Macon  Act, 
named  after  the  Congressman  who  drew  it,  provided  that  United 
States  ships  would  renew  intercourse  with  either  of  the  warring  nations 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

that  would  first  withdraw  its  decrees  and  would  then  have  no  intercourse 
with  the  other.  Napoleon  accepted  the  offer.  But  when  cargoes  of  Amer- 
ican ships  reached  French  ports,  he  repudiated  his  action  and  seized  both 
ships  and  goods.  England,  meanwhile,  continued  her  raids  on  American 
commerce. 

The  situation  grew  tense — the  crisis  came.  Congress  convened  in 
1811  and  decided  to  declare  war  on  England.  In  that  historic  Congress 
we  meet  Henry  Clay.  His  rival  from  that  time,  for  forty  years,  was  John 
C.  Calhoun.  The  declaration  of  war  came  on  June  i8th,  1812,  five  days 
after  the  British  orders  in  Council  had  been  repealed.  But  in  those  days  be- 
fore the  cable  or  the  ocean  steamship,  news  travelled  so  slowly  that  no  word 
about  the  repeal  arrived  in  Washington  for  several  weeks.  The  procla- 
mation, accompanying  the  declaration  of  war,  stated  that  we  entered  it  be- 
cause England  had  incited  Indians  to  attack  Americans,  had  interfered  with 
our  trade,  had  searched  our  ships  off  our  own  ports,  and  had  impressed  some 
six  thousand  of  our  sailors.  The  chief  events  of  the  war  are  narrated  in 
another  chapter. 

Peace  came  with  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  signed  in  December,  1814. 
The  treaty,  however,  failed  to  settle  any  of  the  matters  which  had  caused 
the  war.  But  the  naval  victories  of  America  had  raised  her  to  higher  estate 
in  foreign  esteem;  the  war  did  much  to  consolidate  the  Union;  and  it  es- 
tablished American  integrity  on  the  high  seas.  Thus  the  Napoleonic  wars 
unloosed  two  great  forces  in  America — her  great  natural  resources  in  the 
West  and  her  commerce ;  it  started  America  on  her  career  as  a  world  power. 

In  the  twenty-five  years  which  passed  after  Washington's  inauguration, 
the  population  of  the  country  had  increased  by  5,000,000.  Five  new 
States  had  become  members  of  the  Union.  Immigration  was  fast  making 
the  wild  regions  west  of  the  Appalachians  part  of  the  habitable  world. 
Wars  and  treaties  with  the  Indians  subdued  the  savages,  and  emigration 
became  the  forerunner  of  permanent  settlements.  Kentucky,  Vermont  and 
Tennessee  had  become  members  of  the  Union  before  1800.  Ohio  had  en- 
tered in  1803.  New  inventions  for  industrial  purposes,  new  manufactures, 
prosperous  banks,  and  the  building  of  canals  showed  how  the  new  nation 
had  flourished  since  gaining  its  independence.  Manufacturing  was  boomed 
by  the  embargoes  against  England  and  France,  for  heretofore  much  raw 
material  had  gone  abroad  to  be  sent  back  to  the  United  States  as  finished 
product. 

To  further  encourage  manufacture  and  the  "infant  industries,"  socie- 
ties were  started  everywhere  to  boycott  foreign  goods,  prizes  were  offered 
for  the  best  made  domestic  goods,  exchanges  for  the  latter  were  established, 
men  with  capital  came  forward  with  money  for  mills,  and  public  officials 

84 


. 

"P/ •  •  •'•'•.' 

';    _•    Jt 


REMAINS  OF  ANCIENT  CIVILIZATION — Pueblo  ruins  of  the  famous  Csusa  Grande  in  Arizona — 

Survival  of  prehistoric  times — Father  Kino  said  mass  within  its  walls  in  1694 — The 

first  white  men  to  traverse  this  territory  were  two  friars  in  1538. 


FIRST   WHITE  SETTLEMENT  IN  NOKTH  AMERICA — It  was  made  at  St.  Augustine,  Florida, 

after  Ponce  do  Leon  discovered  the  land  of  flowers  in  1512 — This  picture  shows  what  is 

believed  to  be  the  oldest  house  in  the  United  States — It  was  built  in  1516. 


2.2 

It 


§-2 


r,     O 

t?« 

O  >, 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

insisted  on  wearing  and  using  things  "made  in  America."  The  value  of 
goods  manufactured  within  the  United  States  in  1810  was  $173,000,000. 
Roads  and  canals  were  extended  to  all  regions.  Steamboats  began  to  ply 
on  important  rivers;  the  Government  began  to  mint  gold  and  silver;  State 
banks  came  into  existence  in  many  places.  Suspension  of  payment  by  these 
came  with  the  panic  caused  by  the  British  attack  on  Washington,  but  this 
was  prevented  from  recurring  by  the  establishment  of  a  second  National 
Bank,  modelled  after  the  first. 

This  was  a  period  of  expansion.  James  Munroe  was  elected  to  the 
Presidency  and  took  office  on  March  4th,  1817.  No  Federalist  candidate 
ran  for  office  after  that  time.  The  differences  which  had  led  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  two  political  parties  no  longer  existed  when  once  the  doctrine 
of  Federal  supremacy  had  taken  root,  and  after  peace  reigned  in  Europe 
the  question  of  American  neutrality  was  no  longer  raised. 

This,  too,  was  a  period  of  momentous  events.  The  American  people 
were  beginning  to  feel  their  dormant  power.  The  Seminole  Indians  in 
Florida  and  the  Creeks  in  Alabama  were  harassing  the  white  settlers.  The 
first  force  sent  against  the  Indians  failed  to  pacify  them.  General  Jackson 
then  invaded  the  Spanish  territory  of  Florida  and  took  possession  of  it. 
"He  was  officially  rebuked  but  publicly  applauded." 

At  this  time  also  the  question  of  the  northern  boundary  of  the  Louisi- 
ana Purchase  was  settled.  The  line  decided  upon  was  the  49th  parallel 
north  latitude,  running  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  summit  of 
the  Rockies.  England  and  America  were  to  occupy  the  Oregon  territory 
jointly  until  1828.  The  purchase  of  East  and  West  Florida  from  Spain 
for  the  sum  of  $15,000,000  was  completed  in  1821,  and  the  western  boun- 
daries of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  were  agreed  upon. 

Thus  the  wings  of  the  great  American  family  continued  to  spread. 
The  acquisition  of  Florida  not  only  added  to  our  national  domain  a  terri- 
tory seven  times  larger  than  Massachusetts,  but  gave  us  an  unbroken  line 
of  seacoast  from  Nova  Scotia  on  the  north  to  the  Sabine  Pass  on  the  south, 
with  no  foreign  waters  washing  our  shores  and  no  unfriendly  settlements  to 
embarrass  our  commerce.  The  soil  of  Florida,  moistened  by  Spanish  and 
English  blood,  peacefully  passed  under  the  flag  of  the  United  States,  and 
Spanish  grievances  were  ended. 

American  democracy  now  played  its  master-hand  against  Old  World 
monarchy  and  won  through  diplomacy  a  more  far-reaching  victory  than 
that  of  many  wars.  It  took  its  stand  courageously  for  the  integrity  and 
preservation  of  the  whole  Western  Hemisphere — without  molestation  or 
invasion  by  any  foreign  power.  This  world-molding  policy  came  about  in 
this  way:  Russia,  which  held  the  territory  now  known  as  Alaska,  at- 

87 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

tempted  in  1822  to  fix  its  southern  boundary  at  the  52nd  parallel,  thus  tak- 
ing in  part  of  the  Oregon  territory.  The  Russian  Government  also  had  a 
colony  in  California  and  seemed  to  be  bent  on  excluding  Americans  from 
the  Pacific.  John  Quincy  Adams,  then  Secretary  of  State,  protested.  He 
proclaimed  to  the  Russians  that  European  nations  no  longer  had  the  right 
to  plant  colonies  in  North  America.  This  was  the  birth  of  that  principle  in 
international  law  known  as  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 

The  first  test  of  this  daring  warning  to  the  world  from  the  new  Amer- 
ican nation  came  in  1823.  The  possessions  of  Spain  in  South  America  had 
gained  their  independence,  after  bloody  struggles.  They  were  now  threat- 
ened by  the  Holy  Alliance  composed  of  Russia,  Prussia,  Austria,  and 
France.  Under  these  conditions,  the  United  States  could  never  be  se- 
cure; the  Western  Hemisphere  would  be  subject  always  to  invasions  from 
the  older  civilization.  England  also  feared  the  strength  of  the  Holy  Alli- 
ance, with  the  power  it  might  gain  in  the  western  world — hence  it  sug- 
gested to  the  American  Government  a  protest  against  the  interferences  of 
European  governments  with  the  South  American  countries.  Coming  as 
this  did  at  the  same  time  that  our  protest  was  sent  to  Russia,  the  suggestion 
was  acted  upon.  President  Monroe  in  his  message  to  Congress,  December 
2nd,  1823,  proclaimed  to  the  world  that  the  American  continents  were  no 
longer  open  to  European  colonization;  that  America  would  not  engage  in 
European  affairs  (except  on  occasions  when  they  directly  attacked  Ameri- 
can integrity) ;  that  the  European  nations  must  not  "extend  their  system" 
to  any  part  of  the  New  World,  nor  seek  to  control  the  destiny  of  any  of  the 
countries  in  it. 

Behind  this  declaration  was  the  voice  of  a  great  people.  By  its  own 
force  it  became  a  law.  Since  that  time  the  American  Government  has  been 
extremely  jealous  of  this  doctrine.  It  has  maintained  it  even  so  far  as  tak- 
ing control  where  a  European  nation  had  tried  to  collect  debts  from  some 
of  the  smaller  republics  in  this  part  of  the  world.  The  term  "extend  their 
system"  has  received  the  broadest  interpretation.  European  nations  have 
since  chafed  under  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  but  none  has  yet  dared  to  test 
its  validity  with  force. 

Great  Westward  Movement  in  Immigration 

THE  next  great  movement  of  the  American  people  was  migration 
westward.     Trade  had  declined  after  the  War  of  1812 ;  the  ex- 
pected good  times  which  were  to  follow  did  not  arrive.     It  was 
now  that  many  farmers  in  the  East  gathered  their  families,  stock,  and 
possessions,  and  made  their  way  to  the  new  lands  in  the  West  by  wagon. 
Here  they  settled,  opening  up  vast  stretches  in  the  Middle  West.     This 

88 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

migration  was  at  its  height  in  1817.  The  frontier  of  the  country  was 
pushed  as  far  as  the  western  border  of  what  is  now  Missouri. 

Life  on  the  frontier  was  crude — the  frontiersmen  were  a  stalwart  stock 
— not  unlike  in  their  gallantry  the  folk  in  the  days  of  Rob  Roy  and  Ivanhoe. 
It  took  hardy  people  to  stand  the  hardships  of  the  journey  thither;  their 
open-air  life  made  them  sturdy.  They  fought  the  beasts  of  the  forests  and 
challenged  all  danger.  They  could  bring  with  them  few  of  the  accessories 
of  civilized  life.  Their  homes  were  log  cabins,  without  glass  and  without 
stoves  or  conveniences.  Iron  was  not  then  as  plentiful  as  it  is  now.  They 
had  almost  no  nails,  and  their  tools  were  so  poor  that  they  cleared  their 
lands  with  the  greatest  difficulty.  But  these  very  hardships  developed 
them  into  a  race  of  shrewd,  philosophic,  clean-living  people,  with  the  breath 
of  Nature  in  their  souls,  the  bronze  of  the  winds  on  their  faces,  the  roar  of 
the  forests  in  their  voices,  and  the  stability  of  the  rocks  in  their  muscles. 
Migration  took  them  to  Indiana,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Illinois  and  Mis- 
souri— these  States,  together  with  Maine,  entered  the  Union  between  the 
years  1816  and  1821.  All  but  Maine  had  become  populous,  due  to  the  in- 
creased migrations. 

The  admission  of  new  States  raised  a  question  which  was  to  bring 
about  the  first  great  national  crisis  and  threaten  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union.  This  was  the  matter  of  slavery.  As  has  been  noted,  the  first 
slaves  were  brought  to  America  by  a  Dutch  ship  in  1619.  There  was  no 
protest — they  were  considered  as  property.  The  institution  of  slavery 
spread  and  became  grafted  into  our  economic  system,  so  that  by  the  time 
the  Union  was  formed  it  existed  in  every  one  of  the  States.  It  was  a  con- 
stitutional right.  So  long  as  the  country  had  no  industrial  life,  the  em- 
ployment of  slaves  was  economically  advantageous.  But  in  the  North, 
where  industry  grew  faster  and  where  cities  grew  larger,  the  slaves  could 
be  used  only  as  servants ;  they  had  not  the  hereditary  training  necessary  to 
be  used  where  skill  and  technical  knowledge  were  needed — as  in  factories, 
mills,  and  shops.  Consequently,  without  service  for  them  in  the  North, 
slavery  in  the  States  above  Maryland  was  dying  out  of  its  own  accord  dur- 
ing the  first  quarter  of  the  Eighteenth  Century.  Here  develops  a  strange 
social  psychology. 

When  all  selfish  interests  are  eliminated — when  economic  values  dis- 
appear— then  humane  instincts  rise.  So,  when  the  economic  gains  were 
lifted  from  the  institution  of  slavery,  prejudice  arose  on  humanitarian 
grounds.  But  the  South  did  not  become  an  industrial  region;  it  was  still 
profitable  there  to  use  slaves  in  agriculture;  and,  when  the  raising  of  cot- 
ton became  the  paramount  business  of  the  South  it  rested  almost  entirely 
on  slave-labor.  Consequently,  slavery  meant  economic  health  to  the  South- 

89 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

crncrs — even  existence  itself.  Between  the  people  in  the  two  sections  of 
the  country  there  began  to  be  a  division  of  interests  over  the  matter.  The 
Northerners  were  determined  to  restrict  the  institution;  therefore,  when 
new  States  were  admitted  to  the  Union,  they  raised  the  question  whether 
they  should  be  admitted  if  they  permitted  slavery. 

There  were  twenty-two  States  in  the  Union  in  1820;  the  eleven  lying 
north  of  Pennsylvania's  southern  boundary  and  west  of  its  western  boun- 
dary were  "free  States";  the  remaining  eleven  were  "slave  States."  Be- 
yond the  Mississippi  none  of  the  territory  was  at  that  time  part  of  any 
State.  Consequently,  forty-four  of  the  Senators  were  defenders  of  the  in- 
stitution; the  remaining  forty-four  were  opposed  to  it,  in  theory  at  least. 
When  Missouri  petitioned  for  admission  in  1819  and  was  known  to  be  a 
slave-holding  territory,  this  balance  was  threatened.  The  ensuing  dead- 
lock was  settled  by  what  was  known  as  the  "Missouri  Compromise" 
(1820).  To  offset  "slave-holding"  Missouri,  "free"  Maine  was  admitted 
at  the  same  time.  It  was  agreed  that  States  later  created  from  the  Louisi- 
ana Territory  should  be  "slave"  if  south  of  the  line  36°  30'  and  "free" 
if  north  of  it.  This  seemed  to  be  a  compromise — but  proved  to  be  only 
the  postponement  of  the  decision  of  a  vital  policy  in  the  future  democracy. 
Monroe  was  re-elected  President  on  his  brilliant  record,  receiving  all  but 
one  of  the  total  of  220  electoral  votes. 

Beginning  of  Modern  Age  of  Industrial  Development 

ANEW  age  now  began  to  dawn — the  beginning  of  the  modern  age 
of  vast  industrial  development.  "Necessity,"  says  the  old  adage, 
"is  the  mother  of  invention."  There  is  no  greater  truth — every 
great  invention  is  the  result  of  a  great  economic  need — it  is  the  answer  to 
a  social  problem.  So  it  was  that,  with  territorial  expansion  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  new  settlements  in  the  West,  came  the  problem  of  communica- 
tion between  that  section  and  the  East.  Thus  we  conceived  the  Erie  Canal, 
connecting  the  Great  Lakes  with  the  Hudson  River,  to  solve  this  problem 
— to  meet  this  necessity.  This  gave  New  York  a  rebirth  and  greatly  re- 
duced freight  rates  between  East  and  West.  Moreover,  it  established  New 
York  as  the  great  market  and  metropolis  of  the  American  nation;  it  gave 
New  York  the  start  from  which  it  has  since  risen  to  world  power — the  gate- 
way to  a  continent.  Heretofore,  produce  and  passengers  could  be  trans- 
ported by  horse-drawn  vehicles  only — a  slow  and  costly  business.  Canals 
were  built  throughout  the  whole  country — and  the  problem  seemed  settled. 
But  national  growth  rapidly  exceeded  the  pace  of  the  canal;  it  de- 
manded large,  swifter  channels  in  which  to  carry  the  burden  of  a  nation's 
production.  The  new  West  called  for  transportation — for  communication 

90 


II 


C  v: 

O  * 
V+J 


8° 

"SI 


, 
H  a, 

sea 


w  • 

si 


GENEKALS  OF  TIIK  AMKKICAX   REVOLUTION — This  Impressive  engraving  presents  Washington  surrounded  by  tin 

generals  who  led  the  Amerionn  armies  to  victory  in  the  battles  for  American  independence — This  is 
the  genius  that  caused  the  fall  of  monarchy  in  the  Western   World, 


;EGACY  OF  Till:  AMKUK'AN  I'KOPLK      Washington  wrote  on  disbanding  the  army:    "The  citizens  of  America  are 
placed  in  the  most  enviable  condition  as  the  sole  lords  and  proprietors  of  a  vast  tract  of  continent 
comprehending  all  the  various  soils  and  climates  of  (he  world.," 


FIRST  ITRE  DKMOl'HACY  IX  AMKUH'A — The  landing  of  Itoger  Williams    (1(>:>0)  — He  denied 

the  right  of  magistrates  to  interfere  with  the  consciences  of  men  and  demanded 

the   complete   separation   of   church   and   state. 


WASHINGTON   AND    HIS   MoTHI.U    -Washington   was   born    February    L'L'nd,    IT::'-1,    in    Virginia. 

son  of  .lohn    Washington   and   Mary   Hall    Washington-    His   father  died   and 

through   Ills  mother's  guidance  he  developed   into  greatness. 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

with  the  stretching  limbs  of  the  continent.  Thus  the  idea  of  railroads  on 
land  and  steamships  on  the  seas.  Experiments  were  made  through  the 
twenties  with  this  new  power  that  was  soon  to  break  the  economic  bondage 
of  the  peoples  of  the  earth,  emancipate  the  world's  trade — and  create  a  new 
epoch  in  civilization.  The  first  use  of  the  steam  locomotives  economically 
successful  was  on  a  line — with  gaps — that  ran  from  Philadelphia  to  Pitts- 
burgh, from  1836  onward.  The  invention  of  straw-made  paper,  farm  ma- 
chinery, the  telegraph,  and  the  sewing  machine,  the  use  of  chloroform, 
American-made  hardware,  anthracite  coal,  and  fire  brick  all  came  between 
the  years  1825  and  1840  and  were  due  to  American  genius.  In  the  cities 
the  omnibus  and  street-car  began  to  be  used. 

This  period  saw  the  rise  of  the  Mormon  sect  in  upper  New  York  and 
their  migration  as  they  moved  farther  and  farther  west,  till  they  set  up  a 
city  of  their  own  in  1847  at  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  then  in  Mexican  territory. 
The  period  saw  also  the  rise  of  certain  features  of  the  American  political 
system.  With  the  coming  of  a  broader  democratic  outlook  the  punishment 
meted  out  to  convicts  was  made  lighter,  free  schools,  asylums,  and  better 
prisons  were  established,  and  the  States  amended  their  constitutions  to  open 
suffrage  to  greater  numbers.  Democracy,  too,  was  experiencing  a  rebirth 
— it  was  about  to  step  out  into  a  great  industrial  age  when  it  should  test 
its  might  with  the  surviving  elements  of  autocracy  and  fight  for  its  existence 
against  feudalism  and  oligarchy  entering  into  our  industrial  life. 

As  the  Erie  Canal  was  completed  there  came  into  the  Presidency,  John 
Quincy  Adams — a  National  Republican.  The  first  locomotive  in  this  coun- 
try was  brought  from  England;  lithographic  printing  came  into  America. 
Then  came  the  election  of  Andrew  Jackson  to  the  presidency — the  first 
President  who  came  up  from  the  ranks  and  did  not  belong  to  the  aris- 
tocracy. The  first  American  locomotive,  constructed  by  Peter  Cooper,  was 
tested  on  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad;  the  Delaware  and  Hudson 
Canal  and  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  Canal  were  finished,  giving  to 
New  York  and  Philadelphia  respectively  new  commercial  inland  water- 
ways. At  this  time  Dr.  John  Revere  crowned  this  year  of  achievement  by 
inventing  galvanized  iron.  The  ready  oxidation  of  iron  had  made  it  more 
vulnerable  than  wood  to  the  action  of  the  atmosphere.  Dr.  Revere's  dis- 
covery had  advanced  the  world  a  long  step  into  the  iron  age. 

We  now  enter  upon  an  era  in  which  events  crowd  upon  us  so  rapidly 
that  it  is  necessary  to  witness  each  step,  year  by  year — a  rapidly  moving 
panorama  of  national  progress.  The  year  of  1830  was  made  memorable 
in  the  commercial  and  industrial  history  of  the  United  States  by  the  nego- 
tiation of  a  treaty  with  Great  Britain  throwing  open  to  American  commerce 
all  the  ports  of  the  West  Indies  and  South  America,  and  by  a  treaty  with 

95 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

Turkey  giving  American  ships  access  to  the  Black  Sea;  by  the  founding  of 
what  is  now  the  third  greatest  city  of  the  world,  Chicago,  at  a  rude  trading 
outpost  on  Lake  Michigan ;  by  the  running  of  the  first  steam  passenger  train 
in  America  on  the  Charleston  and  Savannah  Railway,  the  train  being  drawn 
by  a  locomotive  built  in  New  York  and  called  the  "Best  Friend" ;  and  by 
gazing  at  the  stars  through  the  first  American  telescope  erected  at  Yale. 

The  year  of  1831  opened  with  an  insurrection  of  negroes  led  by  Nat 
Turner.  William  Lloyd  Garrison  sent  to  the  press  the  first  copy  of  the 
Liberator,  his  famous  anti-slavery  paper,  which  had  sprung  the  movement 
which  was  to  culminate  thirty  years  later  in  the  American  Civil  War.  The 
State  of  Pennsylvania  completed  the  great  freight  line  from  Philadelphia 
to  Pittsburgh,  part  of  the  way  by  canal,  part  by  horse  railroad.  The  Alle- 
gheny Mountains  were  scaled  by  rail  with  stationary  steam-engines  for 
hoisting.  Albany  and  Syracuse  were  joined  by  rail  and  a  New  York  built 
locomotive  scored  the  record  of  a  mile  in  three  minutes  on  this  new  road. 
John  Henry,  of  Albany,  invented  an  electric  apparatus  that  produced 
sounds  and  that  was  the  forerunner  of  Morse's  celebrated  invention,  the 
telegraph. 

Jackson  was  again  elected  to  the  Presidency  in  1832.  His  opponent 
was  Henry  Clay,  the  issue  being  the  rechartering  of  the  National  Bank.  A 
tariff  bill  was  passed,  raising  the  duties  on  molasses,  reducing  it  on  iron, 
letting  raw  wool  come  in  free  and  leaving  cotton  unchanged.  But  this 
law  did  not  satisfy  the  South,  and  South  Carolina  threatened  nullification 
by  summoning  her  State  troops  to  arms  to  prevent  the  enforcement  of  the 
law.  She  declared  that  if  her  troops  were  attacked  she  would  withdraw 
from  the  Union.  Jackson  denounced  this  act  as  treason,  and  Congress 
enacted  a  Force  Bill  giving  him  the  power  and  money  to  enforce  the  law. 
This  was  the  omen  of  a  future  crisis. 

The  tariff  struggle  led  to  the  "Compromise  Tariff"  in  1833,  and  South 
Carolina,  having  won  a  reduction,  abandoned  nullification.  Jackson 
vetoed  the  rechartering  of  the  Second  National  Bank  on  the  ground  that  it 
was  undemocratic  and  was  a  political  machine.  The  Sacs  and  Foxes,  two 
tribes  of  Black  Hawk  Indians,  vowed  that  they  would  not  give  ground  to 
civilization  in  Illinois  by  crossing  to  the  west  bank  of  the  Mississippi. 
Under  their  chief,  Black  Hawk,  they  ravaged  the  frontiers,  and  were 
crushed  and  expelled  by  General  Atkinson.  The  intrepid  explorer,  School- 
craft,  found  his  way  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Mississippi.  New  York's 
old  Bowery  jangled  and  rattled  from  the  city  hall  to  Fourteenth  Street 
with  America's  first  street-car.  Massachusetts  abolished  her  age-long  cus- 
tom of  paying  her  ministers  and  the  event  marked  the  final  separation  of 
Church  and  State  in  America.  Jackson,  to  clinch  the  nails  in  the  coffin  of 

96 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

the  National  Bank,  withdrew  the  Government  funds  and  placed  them  in 
certain  State  banks. 

"Abolition"  was  the  cry  in  the  North.  William  Lloyd  Garrison  was 
beaten  in  Boston  by  an  anti-abolitionist  mob  in  1835.  The  Seminoles  in 
Florida  refused  to  obey  the  order  of  the  Government  to  take  up  their  habi- 
tations west  of  the  Mississippi.  They  ambushed  and  slew  Major  Dade, 
with  a  hundred  United  States  troops,  and  massacred  General  Thompson 
and  other  whites.  This  was  their  second  and  most  serious  war. 

Van  Buren,  a  New  York  Democrat,  was  elected  President  in  1836. 
Texas,  under  the  leadership  of  General  Sam  Houston,  in  the  battle  of  San 
Jacinto,  severed  her  connection  with  Mexico  and  sought  admission  as  a 
State  to  the  United  States,  but  was  rejected  by  the  opponents  of  the  further 
extension  of  slavery.  The  House  of  Representatives  passed  the  "Gag 
Resolution,"  tabling  all  resolutions  dealing  with  slavery.  John  Quincy 
Adams,  a  member  of  the  House,  vigorously  opposed  this  as  a  violation  of 
the  right  of  petition ;  it  was  repealed  eight  years  later.  One  of  Jackson's 
last  acts  as  President  was  to  issue  his  famous  "Specie  Circular,"  providing 
that  all  public  lands  be  paid  for  in  specie  only  on  account  of  the  deprecia- 
tion of  the  State  Bank  notes.  The  act  was  partially  responsible  for  the 
panic  which  followed. 

Financial  distress  now  befell  the  republic.  Van  Buren's  administra- 
tion began  in  1837.  Calhoun  proposed  that  loans  should  be  made  to  the 
several  States  according  to  their  representation  in  Congress.  But,  after 
three  payments  had  been  made,  the  panic  of  1837  emptied  the  treasury 
and  paralyzed  the  monetary  life  of  the  whole  nation.  The  country  had 
grown  too  fast  and  furious  for  its  financial  health.  It  had  gone  mad  with 
wildcat  banking,  with  reckless  speculation  in  Western  lands,  and  with 
breakneck  industrial  expansion  in  the  States.  Texas  was  now  recognized 
by  the  United  States  as  an  independent,  sovereign  Government,  and  Van 
Buren  sent  a  minister  to  the  new  republic  to  represent  the  American  Gov- 
ernment. In  the  midst  of  the  great  panic  and  gloom,  Morse  flashed  his 
first  telegram  over  a  wire  a  few  miles  in  length,  thus  giving  lightning's 
wings  to  words. 

The  year  of  1838  opened  with  the  founding  of  the  Smithsonian  Insti- 
tute at  Washington,  a  national  laboratory  and  museum  which  has  been  an 
important  factor  in  the  scientific  progress  of  the  world.  In  this  same  year, 
there  came  into  the  harbor  of  New  York  two  giant  steamships,  the  Great 
Western  and  the  Sirius  on  their  regular  traffic  across  the  Atlantic.  With 
all  sails  set,  with  black  smoke  rolling  from  a  great  lone  stack  amidship, 
and  propelled  by  side  wheels,  it  took  these  first  ocean  liners  from  twenty  to 
twenty-five  days  to  cross  the  Atlantic. 

97 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

America  Enters  Epoch  of  Invention  and  Expansion 

AMERICAN  invention  (described  in  another  chapter)  began  to  place 
its  momentum  behind  American  progress.  A  screw  steamship  in- 
vented by  John  Ericsson  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  1839,  a  triumph 
of  marine  engine  mechanics.  The  first  real  likeness  of  a  human  face,  made 
by  the  daguerreotype  process,  succeeded,  and  the  day  was  heralded  when 
every  one  who  wished,  could  see  his  face  printed  in  a  picture.  Congress, 
with  the  experience  of  the  panic  before  it,  established  subtreasuries  for  the 
care  of  the  Government  money.  The  year  approached  its  close  with  the 
noisiest  and  most  rollicking  Presidential  campaign  the  country  had  ever 
seen  and  Tyler  was  swept  into  the  Presidency. 

The  problem  of  the  National  Bank  came  up  to  perplex  President 
Tyler  in  1839,  threatening  the  disruption  of  his  administration.  There 
arose  serious  Canadian  boundary  disputes  with  England,  and  also  the 
slavery  problem  through  the  mutiny  of  the  crew  of  the  Creole,  a  slave  ship, 
carrying  135  slaves  in  the  British  West  Indies,  where  it  was  set  on  fire 
by  England.  The  slaveholders  in  Congress  twisted  the  British  lion's  tail 
in  herculean  fashion.  During  this  excitement,  Horace  Greeley  came  to 
the  front  and  published  the  first  copy  of  the  New  York  Tribune. 

We  witness  an  important  diplomatic  coup  in  the  year  1840.  Daniel 
Webster  and  Lord  Ashburton  negotiated  a  treaty,  settling  the  boundary  line 
between  Canada  and  the  northeastern  boundary  of  Maine.  This  is  the 
beginning  of  the  settlement  of  that  long  line  between  the  Dominion  of 
Canada  and  the  United  States.  Thomas  Dorr,  a  leader  of  the  common 
people  in  Rhode  Island,  headed  a  rebellion  to  establish  popular  suffrage. 
At  an  election  held  to  adopt  a  new  constitution,  he  claimed  that  his  party 
had  won,  and  he  accordingly  established  a  government  in  opposition  to  the 
regular  State  Government.  He  was  arrested  as  a  traitor.  But  the  next 
year  his  party  triumphed  and  he  came  forth  from  prison  a  political  hero. 

Then  came  the  great  exploration.  Major  John  C.  Fremont  was  sent 
by  the  National  Government  to  find  a  path  over  the  Rocky  Mountains  to 
the  far  distant  land  of  Oregon  and  the  Pacific  Northwest  in  1841.  He 
planted  the  Stars  and  Stripes  in  the  Great  West.  When  his  party  came 
back  with  the  news  of  the  promised  land  far  beyond  the  mountains,  those 
bold  and  venturous  spirits  who  had  gone  as  far  as  Missouri  sprang  into 
their  schooner  wagons  with  all  of  their  household  goods,  their  wives  and 
little  ones,  and  set  their  teams  towards  the  Northwest. 

Within  a  year  (1842)  ten  thousand  American  frontiersmen  had  scaled 
the  Rocky  Mountains  and  driven  stakes  in  the  new  empire.  The  English 
lion  again  began  to  growl  and  another  Presidential  campaign  dawned. 

98 


WASHINGTON  IN  THE  FRENCH  AND  ENGLISH  WAR — Here  we  see  the  young  soldier  fighting 

against  the  attempt  of  the  French  to  establish  control  of  region  between 

the  Mississippi  and  the  Alleghenies,  in  1754. 


HOME  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  WASHINGTON — Washington  with  his  family  at  Mount  Vernon,  Vir- 
ginia— He  married  Mrs.  Martha  Custis  in  17.r>9  and  adopted  her  two  children— 7- 
The  daughter  died  in  young  womanhood — The  son  became  aide- 
de-camp  to  Washington  in  American  Revolution. 


DRAFTING    THE    DECLARATION    OF    INDEPENDENCE — The    first    resolution    for    Indepen- 
dence  was    presented   to   the   Continental    Congress    by    Kichard    Henry    Lee   of    Virginia, 
June    7,     1770 — A    committee    was    appointed    on    June    11,    to    prepare    such    a 
Declaration — It      was      composed      of      Thomas      Jefferson,      John      Adams, 
Benjamin  Franklin     Robert  Livingstone.  Uojrer  Sherman — Jefferson 
was  appointed  in  the  place  of  Lee.  who  had  heen  called  home — 
He  was  selected  by  the  Committee  to  make  the  first  draft. 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

The  Democrats  raised  the  issue :  "  It  is  fifty-four  forty  or  fight,"  and  their 
leader,  James  K.  Polk,  won  on  the  issue.  The  Democratic  victory  also 
swept  Texas  into  the  Union  as  a  State. 

The  young  American  nation  was  expanding  by  leaps  and  bounds. 
The  first  act  of  President  Polk's  administration  in  1843  was  the  negotiation 
of  a  treaty,  throwing  open  Shanghai  and  other  Chinese  ports  to  American 
goods.  The  invention  of  the  telegraph  prophesied  the  dawn  of  a  new  age. 
The  whole  world  was  affected  by  flashes  of  electricity  bearing  the  epoch- 
making  message  over  a  wire  between  Washington  and  Baltimore :  "What 
hath  God  wrought?"  It  was  in  the  following  year  ( 1844)  that  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  were  connected  by  telegraph.  Then  came  another  world- 
molding  discovery  in  the  discovery  of  petroleum  in  Western  Pennsylvania 

(1845). 

The  stage  of  American  history  was  crowded  with  events  in  1846. 
England  and  the  United  States  drew  the  Oregon  boundary  line  at  the  49th 
parallel,  and  peace  reigned  again  between  London  and  Washington.  But 
the  admission  of  Texas  as  a  State  precipitated  between  the  United  States 
and  Mexico  a  boundary  question  that  drew  the  sword  as  arbiter.  Mexico 
demanded  that  the  Neuces  River  be  made  the  southern  boundary  of  Texas, 
while  the  United  States  demanded  with  equal  emphasis  that  the  Rio  Grande 
River  be  made  the  boundary.  General  Taylor  was  sent  to  hold  this  region. 
His  advance  forces  were  attacked  and  the  Mexican  War  followed.  It  was 
the  third  real  war  that  had  come  to  this  country  since  the  day  of  the 
embattled  farmers  at  Lexington.  New  England  strenuously  objected  to 
the  war,  on  the  ground  that  any  annexation  of  Mexican  territory  would 
extend  the  black  cloud  of  slavery,  now  hovering  ominously  over  the  peace 
and  harmony  of  the  whole  country.  Nevertheless,  all  the  rest  of  the 
country  flung  its  heart  and  soul  into  the  war  as  if  on  a  moral  crusade. 
These  events  are  related  in  the  chapter  on  "Great  American  Wars."  While 
they  were  occurring,  American  sailors  set  up  the  independent  State  of  Cali- 
fornia. The  one  great  invention  of  this  period  was  the  patenting  of  the 
sewing  machine  by  Elias  Howe,  of  Boston.  It  was  during  this  time  also 
that  the  House  of  Representatives  passed  the  Wilmot  Proviso  to  exclude 
slavery  from  any  territory  to  be  acquired  from  Mexico  (1847).  The  bill 
was  defeated  in  the  Senate. 

The  Americans  gained  an  empire  with  the  end  of  the  war  with  Mexico 
and  the  Treaty  of  Guadaloupe  Hildalgo  in  1848.  For  $18,000,000 
Mexico  sold  to  the  United  States  all  the  northern  half  of  her  territory, 
including  all  that  region  now  known  as  California,  Nevada,  most  of  Ari- 
zona, New  Mexico,  Utah  and  a  part  of  Colorado.  The  boundary  of  Texas 
was  fixed  at  the  Rio  Grande.  The  war  had  made  General  Taylor  a  na- 

101 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

tional  hero  and  the  Whigs  nominated  and  elected  him  President  over  Cass, 
his  Democratic  opponent.  The  Oregon  Territory  was  organized  by  a  bill 
that  prohibited  slavery.  The  Mormons,  expelled  from  Illinois  and  Ne- 
braska, now  permanently  established  themselves  on  the  shores  of  Salt  Lake, 
Utah.  Chicago's  great  future  was  assured  in  the  finishing  of  a  canal  that 
connected  the  Great  Lakes  with  the  Mississippi  Valley.  One  of  the  great 
romances  of  American  history,  a  tale  that  surpasses  all  fiction,  began  to 
unfold  itself.  A  man,  stumbling,  had  turned  up  with  his  foot  a  great 
nugget  of  gold  in  California.  It  was  the  signal  for  another  migration,  and 
the  eager  adventurous  spirits  of  the  whole  land  flocked  to  the  golden  shores 
of  the  Pacific. 

Dawn  of  the  Golden  Age  of  the  Great  Pacific 

THE  dawn  of  the  new  age  of  the  Pacific — the  golden  age — now 
awakened  the  young  America.  Under  the  name  of  the  Forty- 
Niner  (1849),  representatives  of  every  class  of  citizens  in  the 
United  States,  except  the  old  slave-owners,  became  gold  hunters.  By  the 
end  of  the  year,  forty  millions  of  dollars  of  the  yellow  metal  were  found. 
Economic  determinism  here  played  a  strange  part  in  America's  future. 
This  event  doomed  all  possibility  of  the  extension  of  slavery  in  the  West 
on  two  peculiar  grounds :  first,  sociologically  the  eager  gold  hunters  did  not 
tolerate  negroes  working  at  their  elbows;  secondly,  the  negro  was  not 
physiologically  adapted  to  the  development  of  the  mining  industry.  The 
exodus  to  California  so  increased  its  population  within  a  few  months  that 
a  constitutional  convention  at  Monterey  asked  Congress  to  admit  California 
into  the  American  Union  as  a  free  State.  A  critical  political  situation  now 
arose.  If  California  should  be  admitted  as  a  free  State  this  would  jeopard- 
ize the  Southern  majority  in  the  Senate.  But  President  Taylor,  a  South- 
erner, recommended  the  admission.  The  South  was  agitated.  It  de- 
manded that  the  Missouri  Compromise  be  extended  beyond  its  original  lim- 
its of  the  Louisiana  Purchase,  so  as  to  include  Southern  California,  mak- 
ing that  part  of  the  territory  a  slave  State.  It  was  at  this  stage,  created  by 
the  discovery  of  gold,  that  the  South  began  to  threaten  secession  if  Califor- 
nia was  made  a  free  State.  President  Taylor  died,  and  Fillmore,  a  North- 
erner, assumed  the  responsibility. 

Coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before  them.  The  North  and  the 
South  now  set  to  work  to  formulate  a  truce  in  the  Compromise  of  1850 — 
but  it  was  only  a  truce.  Both  sections  dreaded  the  thought  of  the  future. 
Farseeing  men  everywhere  saw  the  great  nemesis  it  held  in  restraint — only 
soon  to  break  over  the  nation  like  a  tornado.  A  Southern  convention  had 
solemnly  declared  that  a  State  had  the  abstract  right  to  secede  from  the 

102 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

Union.  A  compromise  bill  was  passed  admitting  California  as  a  free 
State,  organizing  New  Mexico  and  Utah  as  territories,  and  forbidding  their 
legislatures  to  restrict  slavery,  fixing  the  northwestern  boundary  of  Texas  as 
at  present,  and  paying  to  the  State  the  sum  of  $10,000,000  for  relinquish- 
ing its  claim  on  Mexico.  To  pacify  the  South,  a  Fugitive  Slave  Act  was 
passed,  enabling  a  master  or  his  agent  to  take  a  fugitive  from  a  State  in 
which  he  was  residing,  without  jury  trial  in  that  State.  It  imposed  a  fine 
on  all  who  interfered  with  the  capture  and  recovery  of  fugitive  slaves;  it 
compelled  all  citizens  who  were  summoned  to  aid  in  the  capture  to  give 
their  assistance;  it  provided  a  fee  of  ten  dollars  to  be  paid  to  a  United 
States  marshal  for  capturing  slaves,  and  five  dollars  for  capturing  others. 
The  slave  trade  was  abolished  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Here,  too,  we  find  the  genesis  of  the  Panama  Canal.  The  expansion 
of  the  United  States,  westward  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  brought  to  the  fore  the 
problem  of  piercing  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  with  a  canal,  or  one  across 
Central  America.  England  had  secured  control  over  the  coast  of  the 
Mosquito  Indians,  occupying  the  only  practical  eastern  terminal  of  a  Cen- 
tral American  canal.  To  persuade  England  to  withdraw  from  this  terri- 
tory, the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty  was  negotiated.  It  provided  that  neither 
Government  was  to  have  exclusive  control  of  the  canal ;  that  the  canal  must 
not  be  fortified,  or  the  land  about  it  colonized;  and  that  neither  Govern- 
ment should  assume  control  over  any  part  of  Central  America.  Both  Gov- 
ernments guaranteed  the  protection  and  neutrality  of  the  canal.  It  was  at 
this  time  that  General  Lopez,  a  Cuban  patriot,  came  to  the  United  States, 
organized  a  filibustering  expedition,  and  invaded  Cuba.  After  a  passing 
success,  Lopez  fled  and  his  followers  were  captured,  but  the  Spanish  authori- 
ties finally  surrendered  them  to  the  United  States. 

The  economic  problem  of  slavery,  despite  the  heroic  measure  of  the 
statesmen,  continued  to  fulminate.  The  attempt  to  execute  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  in  the  North  created  moral  sentiment  in  1851.  The  arrest  of  a 
single  negro  in  Pennsylvania  did  more  to  arouse  the  plain  people  of  the 
North  than  all  the  preachings  and  writings  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison, 
Wendell  Phillips,  and  other  abolitionists  had  done  in  twenty  years.  Many 
Northern  States  were  quick  to  pass  "personal  liberty"  laws,  forbidding 
state  officers  to  aid  in  capturing  slaves,  and  preventing  citizens  from  taking 
part  in  the  return  of  fugitives.  Underground  railways  were  built  from  the 
border  States  of  the  South  to  Canada,  by  means  of  which  many  negroes 
were  transported  to  freedom.  Simultaneously,  new  issues  were  arising. 
Maine  legally  forbade  the  making  and  selling  of  intoxicating  liquors.  San 
Francisco,  having  drawn  to  itself,  through  the  gold  fever,  the  adventurers 
of  the  earth,  was  compelled  to  organize  a  vigilance  committee  to  deal  with 

103 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

disorder.  During  this  year,  General  Lopez  headed  another  filibustering 
expedition  to  Cuba,  and  this  time  he  was  defeated,  captured,  and  with  fifty 
of  his  followers  was  executed. 

The  patriarchs  of  the  American  nation  were  now  passing  away, 
Daniel  Webster — the  last  of  the  great  triumvirate  of  Clay,  Calhoun,  and 
Webster — died.  The  leadership  of  the  nation,  in  the  great  struggle  it  had 
now  entered,  had  fallen  upon  the  shoulders  of  new  and  younger  men.  It 
was  at  this  moment  that  an  epoch-forming  book  now  issued  forth  under  the 
title  of  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin" — a  book  which  proved  to  be  political  propa- 
ganda that  was  to  make  history.  The  story,  written  by  Harriet  Beecher 
Stowe,  filled  the  Northern  heart  with  anti-slavery  emotions.  It  had  a 
more  far-reaching  effect  than  all  the  legislation  or  abolition  agitation.  It 
massed  onto  one  stage  of  action,  with  all  the  intensity  of  the  romanticist, 
situations  intended  to  arouse  moral  sentiment.  During  this  excitement, 
however,  Franklin  Pierce,  a  Northern  Democrat,  was  chosen  President. 

American  discovery  now  interrupted  the  agitation  long  enough  to 
observe  Dr.  Elisha  Kane,  heading  an  Arctic  expedition,  reach  a  point  that 
remained  for  years  "Farthest  North,"  in  1853. 

But  only  for  an  instant — when  the  scene  turns  again  to  the  slavery 
problem.  Statesmen  struggled  with  the  problem.  In  the  United  States 
Senate,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  an  Illinois  Democrat,  brought  forth  a  bill 
claiming  that  the  Compromise  of  1850  had  displaced  the  Compromise  of 
1820  regarding  slavery  in  the  territories.  Douglas  proposed  that  the 
Northwest  should  be  divided  into  two  territories,  Kansas  and  Nebraska, 
both  north  of  36°,  30',  and  that  each  territory  should  decide  for  itself 
whether  slavery  should  be  permitted  or  not.  The  bill  became  a  law;  it 
was  immediately  dubbed  "squatter  sovereignty."  This  resulted  in  the 
creation  of  a  new  anti-slavery  party  in  the  North,  called  at  first  the  anti- 
Nebraska  men,  which  culminated  in  the  outbreak  of  civil  war  in  Kansas 
between  the  slavery  and  anti-slavery  factions. 

Again  public  attention  was  diverted  long  enough  to  witness  Com- 
modore Perry,  an  American  naval  officer,  head  a  naval  expedition  to  Japan, 
and  by  threats,  cajolery,  and  shrewd  diplomacy,  succeed  in  persuading  the 
Japanese  to  open  their  ports  to  American  trade  (1854).  From  this  date 
began  what  is  called  modern  Japan.  Canada  and  the  United  States  prac- 
tically broke  down  their  trade  barriers  on  the  border  and  entered  into  a  free 
exchange  of  their  commodities.  This  season  of  commercial  brotherhood 
lasted  for  twelve  years,  when  the  United  States  abrogated  the  treaty. 
Filibustering  expeditions  to  Cuba  continued  and  the  Black  Warrior  was 
seized  by  the  Spanish  Government  in  the  island.  The  American  ministers 
to  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Spain  met  at  Ostend  and  drew  up  a  mani- 

104 


VIEW  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN — It  was  chartered  in   18:57   and  first  opened  at 

Ann  Arbor,  in  1841 — It  has  nearly  7,000  students — The  institution  is  part 

of  the  public  educational   system  of  the   State. 


LARGEST  STATE  IMVKKS1TY  IN  AMERICA — Tliis  is  a  glimpse  of  the  University  of  Minne- 
sota, near  Minneapolis — It  was  founded  in  1868  and  has  more  than  9,000  students — 
It  is  the  head  of  the  system  of  public  education  in  Minnesota, 


GALLERY    OF    1'OUTRAITS    OF    PRESIDENTS    OF    THE,    UNITED    STATES— 1789-1800. 


festo  declaring  that  the  sale  of  Cuba  by  Spain  and  its  purchase  by  the 
United  States  was  most  desirable;  but  that  if  Spain  refused  to  sell,  the 
United  States  would  be  compelled  to  "wrest  it  from  her." 

The  incipient  anti-slavery  war  in  Kansas  now  burst  into  a  flame  in 
1855.  The  arrival  of  numerous  immigrants  from  New  England  brought 
matters  to  a  crisis.  Emigration  from  the  South  was  light,  but  the  Mis- 
sourians,  who  called  themselves  "Sons  of  the  South,"  crossed  into  Kansas 
to  establish  a  government,  and  to  hold  the  best  land  until  actual  Southern 
settlers  should  appear.  Rival  governments  were  set  up,  and  conflict  fol- 
lowed. Lawrence  was  sacked  by  the  pro-slavery  forces.  In  revenge,  John 
Brown,  with  his  followers,  massacred  some  of  the  "Sons  of  the  South"  at 
Pottawatomie.  Kansas  had  become  "bleeding  Kansas."  It  was  under 
this  stress  that  the  Republican  party  was  born.  It  was  in  the  form  of  a 
revolt  against  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill.  The  new  party  descended  from 
the  free  soilers,  and  it  gradually  absorbed  every  party  and  faction  in  the 
country  opposed  to  slavery. 

Indian  massacres  were  added  to  the  slavery  disturbances  in  1856. 
The  white  man  had  made  an  enemy  of  the  Indians  in  Oregon,  and  they 
attacked  and  massacred  the  settlers  just  as  they  had  done  two  or  more 
centuries  before  in  New  England  and  in  New  York.  An  episode  now 
occurred  that  illuminated  the  intense  bitterness  of  feeling  gathering  between 
the  North  and  the  South  over  slavery.  Senator  Sumner,  of  Massachusetts, 
more  eloquent  than  judicious,  made  a  speech  in  the  Senate,  denouncing 
several  Senators  because  of  the  "Crime  of  Kansas."  For  this  speech,  Sum- 
ner was  assaulted  and  beaten  senseless  by  a  nephew  of  the  South  Carolina 
Senator.  The  assailant  was  hailed  as  a  hero  throughout  the  South.  The 
Democrats  elected  one  more  President,  James  Buchanan,  out  of  the  po- 
litical struggle  over  slavery. 

The  slavery  question  finally  reached  the  highest  courts  for  judicature. 
Dred  Scott,  a  negro,  sued  for  his  freedom,  and  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court  decided  in  1857  that  no  negro,  free  or  slave,  was  a  citizen  and  there- 
fore could  not  bring  any  suit  at  law.  The  decision  implied  that  the 
Missouri  Compromise  was  unconstitutional  in  its  discrimination  against 
slavery.  The  people  of  Kansas  were  now  permitted  to  vote  on  the  ques- 
tion whether  they  would  accept  a  constitution  with  or  without  slavery. 
The  free-soil  people  refused  to  vote  for  a  constitution — one  way  or  the 
other — and  thus  the  votes  "with  slavery"  exceeded  those  "without  slavery" 
and  slavery  was  declared  established.  The  Democrats  in  Congress  con- 
tended for  the  legality  of  this  election. 

The  new  republic  was  indeed  heavily  distressed.  To  add  to  the  bur- 
dens another  great  panic  swept  the  country — the  panic  of  1857.  It  sprang 

107 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

from  over-capitalization,  the  over-building  of  railroads,  the  rise  in  prices 
and  mania  for  speculation  following  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Australia  and 
California,  the  diminishing  of  the  specie  reserve,  bad  crops  in  America  and 
good  ones  abroad,  bad  State  banking,  and  the  diminution  of  the  gold  out- 
put. The  whole  country  stood  bankrupt.  The  last  spikes  were  driven  in 
a  railroad,  connecting  the  Atlantic  with  the  Mississippi  River,  between 
Baltimore  and  St.  Louis.  The  Mormons  had  grown  at  such  rate  in  num- 
bers and  ambition  that  they  demanded  that  Congress  admit  Utah  as  a 
State  of  the  Union.  Congress  refused,  and  the  Latter-Day  Saints  rose  in 
rebellion.  United  States  troops  crushed  the  uprising. 

America 's  Great  Tragedy — and  the  Reconstruction  of  the  Nation 

WE  now  look  upon  the  tall,  gaunt  figure  of  the  man  who  was  to  be- 
come the  "savior  of  the  nation."     The  greatest  joint  political  dis- 
cussion this  country  has  ever  beheld  took  place  on  the  stump  in 
the  State  of  Illinois  in  1858.     The  debaters  were  two  strong  men — Lincoln 
and  Douglas.     Here  the  issue  assumed  decisive  form.     Douglas  supported 
his  "popular  sovereignty"  doctrine  as  against  the  Dred  Scott  decision.     The 
State-rights  issue  was  now  clearly  before  the  people.     There  was  no  eva- 
sion; it  must  be  decided  in  the  next  political  campaign. 

It  was  during  this  agitation  that  an  event  brought  great  rejoicing  to 
both  America  and  England,  the  laying  of  the  first  Atlantic  cable  by  Cyrus 
Field  (1859).  A.  new  and  rich  gold  district  was  also  discovered  in  the 
West  and  the  "Forty-nine"  rush  was  repeated.  The  discovery  of  silver  in 
Nevada  in  Golconde  quantities  produced  a  group  of  Western  silver  kings 
who  entered  politics  and  set  up  a  new  standard  in  the  United  States  Senate. 

The  slavery  agitation  fumed  over  in  mob  riot.  John  Brown,  conceiv- 
ing the  idea  of  establishing  a  black  republic,  led  a  raid  into  Virginia  to 
arouse  the  slaves.  He  was  seized  after  a  short  fight  by  United  States 
troops,  tried,  and  executed.  The  event  inflamed  the  South,  which  charged 
that  Northern  abolitionists  had  employed  Brown  to  make  war  on  them. 
The  North  hailed  Brown  as  a  martyr.  Kansas  now  formed  and  adopted 
a  constitution  prohibiting  slavery  and  asked  admission  as  a  State  into 
the  Union. 

At  last  the  storm  burst  upon  the  nation !  It  could  not  longer  be  held 
in  political  restraint.  After  eighty-three  years  of  political  experiment  in 
the  republic,  the  economic  problem  demanded  decisive  action.  We  enter 
upon  the  period  of  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction  (1861  to  1877 — sixteen 
years).  Lincoln  was  elected  to  the  Presidency;  Douglas  was  defeated. 
The  South  seceded — and  the  American  Civil  War  fell  upon  the  country 
like  a  tornado  from  overhead,  an  earthquake  from  underneath,  and  de- 

108 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

vouring  flame  sweeping  through  the  nation.     These  four  years  of  terrific 
warfare  are  fully  described  in  the  chapter  on  "Great  American  Wars." 

We  will  linger  here,  therefore,  at  the  moment  of  crisis,  only  to 
record  in  this  narrative  the  essential  facts  that  South  Carolina  was  the  first 
State  to  leave  the  Union  by  calling  a  convention  on  December  20,  1860. 
The  other  States,  supporting  the  doctrine  of  "State  Sovereignty,"  followed 
within  the  next  few  months.  On  the  eve  of  the  Union's  great  crisis,  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  afterwards  King  Edward  VII,  visited  the  United  States 
and  reported  to  his  mother,  Queen  Victoria,  what  he  had  learned.  The 
seceding  States  organized  a  government  with  a  constitution,  called  the 
Confederate  States  of  America,  with  Jefferson  Davis  as  President  (1861). 

The  underlying  causes  of  the  Civil  War  were  the  doctrine  of  Popular 
Sovereignty  and  Slavery.  Great  Britain,  on  May  13th,  recognized  the 
Confederate  States  as  belligerents.  During  this  crisis  the  first  telegraph 
line  from  St.  Louis  to  San  Francisco  was  built  over  the  country  from  ocean 
to  ocean  and  clicked  and  flashed  through  the  Union.  On  New  Year's 
in  1863,  Lincoln  brought  into  effect  his  celebrated  Emancipation  Procla- 
mation, proclaiming  all  slaves  free  in  the  States  in  rebellion.  This  was  the 
moral  turning-point  in  the  war,  but  it  rallied  around  the  Government  all 
the  moral  power  and  energy  of  the  Northern  States.  West  Virginia,  which 
had  refused  to  secede,  was  admitted  to  the  Union  as  a  separate  State.  To 
emphasize  the  frightfulness  of  the  times,  the  Sioux  rose  in  Minnesota  and 
committed  their  savage  atrocities  on  the  white  inhabitants  before  they  were 
crushed  by  General  Pope.  The  war  called  for  billions  of  money  as  well 
as  legions  of  men,  so  Congress  passed  an  extremely  high  tariff  bill  and  an 
internal  revenue  law,  taxing  almost  every  sort  of  business  by  means  of 
license  and  taking  a  heavy  toll  from  liquor  dealers  and  theaters.  A  tax 
was  also  levied  on  incomes  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  country. 
The  rich  silver  mines  of  the  Nevada  region  had  attracted  to  it  a  sufficient 
number  of  inhabitants  to  admit  it  to  statehood  and  under  these  circum- 
stances Nevada  became  a  sovereign  State  of  the  Union.  The  Stars  and 
Stripes  broke  out  from  the  flag-staff  of  Fort  Sumter  on  April  14th,  1865, 
just  four  years,  to  the  hour  and  the  minute,  from  the  time  it  had  been 
hauled  down. 

On  this  historic  day  (April  14,  1865)  there  occurred  the  saddest  per- 
sonal event  in  the  whole  history  of  the  country.  President  Lincoln  was 
shot  by  John  Wilkes  Booth  in  Ford's  Theater.  This  event  came  like  a 
stab  at  the  heart  of  the  nation's  rejoicings  over  the  end  of  the  Civil  War. 
Jefferson  Davis,  who  had  fled  South  just  before  the  fall  of  Richmond,  was 
captured  in  Georgia  and  imprisoned  on  May  1 1,  1865.  President  Johnson 
succeeded  Lincoln. 

109 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

Foreign  relations  now  engrossed  the  Government's  attention.  In 
1861  a  combined  army  of  French,  English  and  Spanish  soldiers  had  gone 
to  Mexico  to  hold  her  ports  until  she  paid  certain  debts.  When  it  was  seen 
that  Emperor  Napoleon  III  of  France  had  designs  on  the  country,  England 
and  Spain  withdrew  their  soldiers.  In  defiance  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine, 
the  French  Emperor  set  up  Maximilian,  brother  of  Francis  Joseph  of 
Austria,  as  Emperor  of  Mexico.  As  soon  as  the  Civil  War  ended  General 
Sheridan  was  sent  to  Mexico  with  50,000  troops.  The  French  withdrew, 
and  the  Mexicans  reestablished  their  republic,  executing  Maximilian. 
During  this  time  also  the  Fenians,  a  body  of  men  of  Irish  birth  who  had 
brought  with  them  to  America  deep  animosity  against  England  and  many 
of  whom  had  served  in  the  Union  army,  organized  an  expedition  to  invade 
Canada  and  succeeded  in  crossing  the  border,  but  after  a  short  skirmish 
with  Canadian  troops  they  returned  to  the  United  States. 

America  Arises  from  Economic  Ruin  to  World  Power 

WE  enter  upon  a  new  epoch — an  epoch,  which,  after  passing 
through  the  reconstruction  days,  brings  us  into  an  age  of  great 
inventions,  industrial  expansion,  and  world  power.  The  United 
States  purchased  Alaska  from  Russia  for  $7,000,000  in  1867.  The  critics 
of  Secretary  Seward  said  it  was  "money  thrown  away." 

The  House  of  Representatives  impeached  President  Johnson  in  1868 
for  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors  in  office  and  he  was  brought  to  trial — 
the  only  President  of  the  United  States  ever  tried  on  impeachment  charges 
by  Congress.  It  required  a  two- thirds  vote  to  convict  the  President  and 
take  his  office  from  him.  His  "radical"  antagonists  failed  by  just  one  vote 
to  secure  the  necessary  majority.  All  the  Southern  States  except  Virginia, 
Mississippi,  and  Texas,  were  readmitted  to  Congress.  The  Fourteenth 
Amendment  to  the  Constitution  was  officially  adopted  by  the  States.  On 
the  following  Christmas  a  final  proclamation  of  amnesty  was  issued,  pardon- 
ing all  who  took  part  in  the  rebellion.  General  Grant  was  elected  to  the 
Presidency. 

The  panic  of  "Black  Friday"  swept  the  country  in  1869.  The  con- 
tinent of  the  United  States  was  now  conquered  by  rail.  The  Union  and 
Central  Pacific  railroad,  aided  by  a  government  bonus  of  $27,000,000, 
drove  the  last  spike  in  the  Union  Pacific  railroad  on  May  10,  1869.  The 
territories  of  Wyoming  and  Utah  voted  to  allow  woman  suffrage  on  cer- 
tain questions.  The  industrial  expansion  necessitated  the  organization  of 
labor.  The  Knights  of  Labor,  the  father  of  all  the  labor  organizations 
in  this  country,  was  formed. 

The  final  step  in  universal  male  suffrage  came  with  the  Fifteenth 

110 


GALLERY    OF    PORTRAITS    OF    PRESIDENTS    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES — 1809-1837. 


GALLERY  OF  PORTRAITS  OF  PRESIDENTS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES—  isaz- 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

Amendment  to  the  Constitution,  which  was  adopted  by  the  States  in  1870. 
The  negroes  everywhere  now  had  the  right  to  vote.  The  remaining  South- 
ern States  were  admitted  to  the  Union  after  they  had  ratified  both  the 
Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth  Amendments.  President  Grant,  besieged  more 
than  any  of  his  predecessors  by  an  army  of  office  seekers,  advised  Congress 
of  the  need  of  selecting  Government  officials  from  a  competitive  list.  His 
message  was  a  challenge  to  the  Congress  to  lift  the  Civil  Service  of  the 
Government  above  the  greed  and  corruption  of  party  politics.  Congress 
authorized  him  to  provide  for  examinations.  But  the  Civil  Service  re- 
formers were  ahead  of  their  times,  for  after  three  years  Congress  withheld 
the  appropriation  and  the  reform  ended  for  the  time.  The  great  fire  of 
Chicago  occurred  in  187 1.  Two  hundred  lives  were  lost  and  $200,000,000 
in  property  destroyed,  but,  when  the  smoke  had  cleared  away,  Chicago  be- 
gan to  rebuild  a  greater  city  which  since  has  risen  to  the  rank  of  the  second 
largest  metropolis  on  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

The  aftermath  of  the  Civil  War  prolonged  itself  through  the  years. 
It  was  only  through  the  courage  and  character  of  the  American  race — and 
the  inherent  justice  of  its  national  ideals — that  this  period  of  reconstruc- 
tion was  safely  passed.  Claims  were  presented  to  England  for  the  damage 
done  during  the  Civil  War  by  commerce  destroyers  of  the  Confederacy 
which  had  been  built  and  fitted  out  in  British  ports.  England  had  per- 
mitted the  Alabama,  a  Confederate  privateer,  to  prey  on  American  com- 
merce, but  after  the  war  the  two  countries  had  agreed  to  settle  the  claim 
by  arbitration  and  a  commission  was  appointed.  It  sat  at  Geneva,  Switzer- 
land, in  1872,  and  awarded  to  the  United  States  damages  to  the  amount 
of  $15,500,000  in  gold  to  be  paid  out  of  the  British  treasury.  At  the  same 
time  there  was  another  dispute  between  the  two  countries;  both  sides 
claimed  the  island  of  San  Juan  on  the  extreme  northwest  boundary  of 
Canada.  The  question  was  finally  submitted  to  the  German  Emperor, 
William  I,  who  awarded  the  island  to  the  United  States.  General  Grant 
was  again  chosen  President.  The  Southern  States  still  suffered  under  the 
burdens  of  reconstruction.  During  these  days,  Boston  was  visited  by  a 
$70,000,000  fire,  destroying  the  business  heart  of  the  city. 

The  strength  of  the  nation  was  now  severely  tested  by  another  great 
financial  panic  which  swept  the  country — the  panic  of  1873.  It  sprang 
from  a  combination  of  causes,  among  them  were  the  over-capitalization  of 
railroads  and  industries,  need  of  currency  to  move  crops,  the  heavy  land 
mortgages  in  the  West,  unrest  due  to  exposure  in  public  life,  the  Boston 
and  Chicago  fires,  and  the  growing  extravagance  in  living.  The  failure  of 
Jay  Cook  &  Co.,  of  Philadelphia,  brought  on  the  crisis.  The  panic  ran  for 
five  years,  reaching  its  climax  with  5,000  failures  in  its  last  year.  The 

113 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

Spanish  captured  the  Virginias,  an  American  vessel  carrying  supplies  to  the 
Cuban  insurgents,  executed  a  number  of  American  sailors  and  the  United 
States  went  to  the  verge  of  war  with  Spain  over  the  episode.  The  general 
public  was  aroused. 

The  Southern  States,  goaded  almost  to  despair  by  financial  and  politi- 
cal manipulators,  known  as  the  "carpet-bag"  domination,  attempted  to 
throw  it  off  in  1874.  Business  credit  was  now  at  such  a  low  ebb  in  the 
country  that  Congress  passed  an  act  providing  for  the  redemption  of  every 
legal  tender  note  in  gold  after  January  1st,  1879.  Out  of  the  opposition 
to  this  measure  arose  the  "Greenback  Party."  Congress,  persisting  in  its 
efforts  to  secure  to  the  negroes  the  full  enjoyment  of  their  freedom  in 
the  South,  passed  another  civil  rights  bill,  forbidding  discriminations 
against  negroes  in  inns,  public  conveyances,  theaters  and  other  places  of 
amusement.  The  Supreme  Court  wrote  across  this  law  the  decision,  de- 
claring "rights"  to  be  not  civil  but  social  and  that  in  such  matters  the 
State  and  not  the  nation  had  jurisdiction.  Charles  Brush,  the  noted 
pioneer  electrical  engineer  of  Cleveland,  invented  the  "Brush  light"  and 
thus  increased  by  billions  the  resources  and  energies  of  modern  humanity. 

The  first  great  industrial  and  commercial  exposition  of  the  country 
was  held  in  Philadelphia  in  1876,  to  celebrate  the  first  century  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  the  South  sent  its  men  and  women  with  their 
wares,  and  for  the  first  time  within  a  generation  the  whole  country  breathed 
with  the  faint  consciousness  of  a  national  spirit.  This  year  was  to  end  the 
crisis  brought  on  by  slavery  and  the  agitation  over  it.  After  a  bitter  con- 
test, Hayes  became  President. 

The  war  between  the  North  and  the  South  had  not  only  settled  the 
question  as  to  whether  a  State  might  secede  from  the  Union;  it  had  also 
given  birth  to  an  industrial  revolution  throughout  the  whole  country.  It 
has  been  said  that  the  McCormick  reaper  released  enough  men  from  the 
farms  in  the  North  to  allow  five  army  corps  to  be  put  in  the  field  against 
the  South.  With  the  abolition  of  slavery  the  South  could  no  longer  have 
agriculture  as  its  sole  industry  and  began  to  develop  its  resources.  Bir- 
mingham, Chattanooga,  and  Atlanta  became  great  industrial  centers.  Coal 
fields  of  almost  unlimited  extent  were  discovered  and  opened  up.  Even 
the  cultivation  of  cotton  was  to  improve  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it  had 
heretofore  depended  almost  entirely  on  slave  labor. 


114 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

America  Conquers  Its  Obstacle  and  Marches  Forward 

THE  nation  that  does  not  have  serious  problems  to  face  is  not  making 
progress.  Every  step  forward  brings  new  obstacles  to  be  con- 
quered. The  American  nation  has  been  beset  by  constant  prob- 
lems because  it  is  constantly  marching  forward.  Every  new  invention  and 
every  step  of  industrial  progress  creates  new  economic  conditions  that  re- 
quire adjustment.  Thus  arise  the  labor  troubles,  which  are  but  fulmina- 
tions  of  American  energy  and  ambition.  We  now  enter  upon  a  new  epoch, 
which  may  be  called  the  Period  of  Expansion — 1877  to  1900 — twenty- 
three  years.  This  brings  us  to  entirely  new  scenes  in  our  rapidly  moving 
story.  It  is  a  picture  of  wonderful  expansion — invention,  industrial  prog- 
ress, intermingled  with  exciting  situations  and  rising  to  a  great  climax  in 
the  Spanish-American  War.  It  includes  the  first  telephone  message,  first 
electric  lights,  the  building  of  Brooklyn  Bridge  and  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad;  the  erection  of  the  Statue  of  Liberty,  the  building  of  the  West, 
Americans  invading  Cuba  and  the  Philippines,  and  the  triumph  of  the 
United  States  as  a  world  power. 

This  is  a  period  of  stupendous  plans  brought  to  successful  culmination. 
In  the  North,  the  use  of  petroleum  for  commercial  purposes  was  to  create 
a  new  giant  industry.  Bessemer  steel,  wire  nails,  cotton-seed  oil,  coke,  and 
canned  goods  began  to  be  put  on  the  market  and  the  output  of  them  in- 
creased at  an  astounding  rate.  In  the  Northwest,  the  flour  output  was 
reaching  immense  proportions.  And  the  United  States  was  becoming  the 
meat  market  for  all  Europe.  The  frontiers  of  the  country  disappeared  soon 
after  the  war.  Where  there  had  been  forests  and  untilled  prairie,  there 
now  came  to  be  prospering  farms.  The  "Great  American  Desert"  was  no 
more,  for  as  men  penetrated  the  region  they  found  that  it  could  be  made 
into  good  farm  land.  Cattle  and  sheep  began  to  graze  where  wild  hordes 
of  buffalo  had  grazed  two  decades  earlier.  "Boom"  towns  came  into  being 
throughout  the  whole  region,  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Rockies,  and 
from  the  Mexican  Gulf  to  the  Canadian  border. 

Under  these  circumstances,  where  there  was  more  work  to  be  done 
than  there  were  men  to  do  it,  and  where  a  new  device  had  possibilities  for 
profit,  it  was  not  surprising  that  mechanical  inventions  should  come  in 
quick  order.  A  new  transatlantic  cable  was  laid.  Dynamite  was  intro- 
duced. The  Gatling  gun  became  a  part  of  the  Government's  ordnance. 
Barbed  wire  was  used  to  close  in  the  great  ranches  in  the  West.  In  the 
business  world  the  typewriter  came  into  use.  On  the  railroads  came  the 
air  brake,  the  car  coupler  and  improved  switches.  The  canning  industries 
grew  with  improvements  for  turning  out  the  cans  in  larger  quantities. 

115 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

The  newspapers  installed  presses  that  could  produce  tens  of  thousands  of 
copies  of  one  issue  in  a  few  minutes.  The  cable-drawn  cars  were  intro- 
duced in  the  cities  and  the  electric  light  began  to  be  used  to  illuminate 
streets.  Electricity  came  to  be  used  for  motors.  All  the  minor  and 
superior  inventions,  which  mark  the  present  generation's  triumphs,  had 
their  beginning  in  this  period — the  phonograph,  the  telephone,  the  camera, 
the  bicycle,  the  gas  engine,  elevators  and  "skyscrapers." 

Let  us  rapidly  pass  through  these  expanding  years.  We  begin  with 
railroad  strikes  in  1877,  where  the  strikers  destroyed  $40,000,000  in  Pitts- 
burgh and  many  millions  in  Chicago,  when  over  one  hundred  rioters  were 
killed  by  United  States  troops.  During  this  distress,  Alexander  Graham 
Bell  invented  the  telephone  which  was  further  to  revolutionize  American 
industry  and  inaugurate  a  new  epoch.  Congress  remonetized  silver  in  1878 
to  raise  the  value  of  the  white  metal  which  had  fallen  to  its  lowest  figures 
on  account  of  the  discovery  of  new  mines.  A  Pension  Bill  was  passed, 
allowing  claims  for  "back  pensions."  A  treaty  was  negotiated  with  China 
in  1880,  stopping  Chinese  immigration  to  this  country  whenever  desired. 
There  was  a  triangular  struggle  in  the  National  Republican  Convention 
with  Blaine,  Grant  and  John  Sherman  as  candidates.  Garfield  was  chosen 
as  the  compromise  candidate  and  was  elected  President.  Party  feuds 
agitated  Guiteau  to  shoot  President  Garfield  at  the  Pennsylvania  Station  in 
Washington  on  July  2,  1881.  He  died  ten  weeks  later,  and  Chester  A. 
Arthur  became  President.  Edison  improved  on  what  Brush  had  done  to 
light  the  world  with  electricity,  and  private  companies  began  to  install 
electric  lighting  plants  in  all  the  chief  cities  of  the  country.  The  Govern- 
ment sent  Lieutenant  Greely  on  an  expedition  for  scientific  research  in  the 
Arctic.  Nearly  all  of  his  party  perished,  the  survivors,  including  himself, 
being  brought  back  three  years  later.  There  was  held  in  1881  in  Atlanta 
a  great  Southern  exposition  in  which  the  old  South  was  reincarnated  and 
rechristened  the  "New  South,"  the  "forward-looking  South,"  the  "young 
men's  South."  The  exposition  caused  the  North  to  open  its  eyes  with 
admiration  at  the  South's  quick  reaction  and  recovery. 

The  growth  of  the  country  was  unparalleled.  Congress  passed  a 
Chinese  Exclusion  Bill  to  keep  the  Chinese  out  of  this  country  in  masses  in 

1882.  The  assassination  of  President  Garfield,  who  was  called  the  "vic- 
tim of  the  Spoils  system,"  moved  Congress  to  pass  a  Civil  Service  law  in 

1883,  taking  most  of  the  minor  government  appointments  out  of  politics 
and  basing  them  on  competitive  examination.     The  postal  service  had 
grown  to  such  an  extent  that  letter  postage  was  reduced  to  two  cents.     The 
Northern  Pacific  Railroad,  the  second  ocean-to-ocean  line,  was  completed 
and  opened  to  traffic.     The  great  Brooklyn  Bridge,  connecting  Manhattan 

116 


GALLERY    OF    1'OHTHAITS    OF    PllESIDENTS    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES— 1849-1861. 


FAMOUS   PAINTING   OF  BATTLE  OF  GETTYSBURG — This    historic    canvas    was    historically    arranged    by 

John  B.  Bacheldcr ;  painted  by  James  Walker ;  and  engraved  by  II.  B.  Hall — It  gives  a  correct 

panoramic   view   of   the   battle  with    the   mountains   in   the   distance. 


n  KMN<;  POINT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  CIVIL  WAR — Here    we  look  upon  the  Battle  of  Gettysburg,  the  great- 
est battle  011  A  in. Tien  n  soil — It  was  fought  on  July  1,  2,  :i,  1X03 — After  a  heroic  struggle,  Lee 
was    forced    to    retreat    and    Meade  led  the  Federal  Army  to  victory. 


GALLERY    OF    PORTRAITS    OF    1'HESIDENTS    OF    THE    UMTED    STATES— 1801-1881: 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

and  Brooklyn,  was  completed,  and  on  the  first  day  one  hundred  thousand 
people  crossed  the  bridge.  The  South  made  a  further  display  of  its  great 
resources  in  an  exposition  at  New  Orleans.  Grover  Cleveland  was  elected 
President  of  the  United  States  in  1884,  the  first  Democrat  in  twenty-eight 
years. 

The  South  now  came  back  into  the  National  Government  in  the  robes 
of  office,  and  with  unspeakable  joy.  The  people  of  France,  with  character- 
istic emotion,  presented  the  Bartholdi  Statue  of  Liberty  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States  and  it  was  erected  in  New  York  Harbor  in  1886.  The 
Apaches,  the  most  savage  tribe  of  all  the  red  men,  headed  by  Geronimo, 
were  captured  after  committing  many  depredations,  and  after  a  long  pursuit 
through  New  Mexico  and  Arizona.  An  earthquake  that  shook  the  whole 
South  Atlantic  seaboard  from  two  to  three  hundred  miles  into  the  interior 
almost  destroyed  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  Chicago  was  visited  by 
labor  troubles  and  the  Haymarket  riot  created  tense  feeling  between  capital 
and  labor.  All  industrial  centers  of  the  country  were  in  such  imminent 
peril  of  the  labor  wars  at  this  time  that  New  York,  Missouri,  Iowa,  and 
Kansas  found  it  necessary  to  establish  State  boards  of  arbitration,  without, 
however,  conferring  compulsory  powers  upon  them. 

Labor,  religion,  invention,  now  crowded  the  public  mind.  The  Su- 
preme Court  affirmed  the  Edmunds  Law,  dissolved  the  Mormon  Church 
Corporation  in  1887,  and  declared  its  property  in  excess  of  $50,000  for- 
feited to  the  United  States;  the  property  was  restored  three  years  later. 
Congress  now  created  another  institution,  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission, to  prevent  railroads  when  operating  in  more  than  one  State  from 
charging  unfair  rates  or  discriminating  between  persons.  Out  of  the 
labor  troubles  was  born  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  Labor  now 
forced  Congress  to  exclude  all  Chinese  laborers  from  the  soil  of  the  United 
States  and  not  to  readmit  Chinamen  who  had  returned  to  China.  Cleve- 
land took  a  strong  stand  for  a  "tariff  for  revenue"  and  was  defeated  for 
President  by  Benjamin  Harrison.  Edison  invented  the  electrical  trolley, 
and  the  first  electric  cars  were  run  in  the  hilly  streets  of  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia. The  invention  was  the  greatest  spur  to  the  growth  and  progress  of 
the  American  cities. 

International  relations  intermingled  with  domestic  problems.  Eng- 
land, Germany,  and  America  jointly  occupied  the  Samoan  Islands  in  1889. 
The  President  declared  the  Behring  Sea  and  the  seal  fur  trade  in  Alaska 
closed  to  foreign  nations.  Fifty  thousand  persons,  eager  to  own  their  own 
homes,  camped  on  the  borders  of  Oklahoma,  and  when  the  Government 
lowered  the  bars,  rushed  across  the  line.  Massachusetts  introduced  the 
Australian  Ballot  system.  A  Pan-American  Congress  was  held  at  Wash- 
ington. 

121 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

Tremendous  Developments  of  Last  Decade  of  Nineteenth  Century 

THE  last  decade  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  witnessed  tremendous 
developments.  The  McKinley  Tariff  Bill  and  the  Dependent 
Pension  Law  were  passed.  Railroads,  oil,  sugar,  meat,  tobacco, 
leather,  lumber,  steel,  became  such  gigantic  industries  that  each  was  or- 
ganized into  great  trade  units,  and  trusts  or  monopolies  now  began  to 
spring  up  all  over  the  country.  This  great  movement  in  industry  caused 
Congress  to  pass  the  Sherman  Anti-Trust  Law  to  prevent  restraint  of  trade 
in  interstate  commerce.  But  for  years  the  law  lay  moribund  in  the  Federal 
Statutes  while  the  trusts  went  on  growing  into  huge  combinations  of  capital. 
The  Mergenthaler  typesetting  machines  were  introduced  in  the  printing 
industry,  and  the  day  of  the  one-cent  newspaper  was  dawning. 

The  workers  in  the  steel  mills  at  Homestead,  Pennsylvania,  went  out 
on  a  strike  and  one  of  the  most  violent  labor  wars  ensued  in  1892.  Cleve- 
land, who  held  on  tenaciously  to  his  lower  tariff  policies,  came  back  into 
the  White  House — the  only  President  of  the  United  States  who  had  suc- 
ceeded himself  after  an  interregnum. 

The  spirit  of  annexation,  or  imperialism,  now  arose.  Queen  Liliuo- 
kalani,  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  had  been  overthrown  by  a  party  of  revo- 
lutionists. Among  them  were  some  Americans,  and  strong  pressure  was 
brought  in  the  United  States  to  have  the  Government  annex  the  Islands 
in  1893.  President  Harrison  had  sent  a  treaty  to  the  Senate,  making  the 
Islands  American  territory,  but  before  the  treaty  was  ratified,  Cleveland 
entered  the  White  House  and  withdrew  it  from  the  Senate.  The  Behring 
Sea  Commission  met  at  Paris  and  rejected  the  claims  of  the  United  States 
to  control  seal  fishing  outside  of  the  three  miles'  limit.  Colorado  granted 
full  suffrage  to  women.  The  World's  Columbian  Exposition  was  held  at 
Chicago  and  its  most  unique  feature  was  a  world  congress  of  religions  and 
creeds,  bringing  to  the  same  platform,  Brahmans,  Buddhists,  Moham- 
medans, and  Christians.  The  business  faith  of  the  country  was  severely 
shaken  by  the  hoarding  of  gold  and  the  fear  of  radical  tariff  legislation. 
The  country  was  plunged  into  a  terrific  panic;  a  million  people  in  the 
United  States  were  forced  to  depend  on  charity  in  municipal  soup  kitchens. 

The  Pullman  car  factory  employees  of  Chicago  went  on  a  strike  in 
1894,  tnat  surpassed  all  its  predecessors  in  the  destruction  of  property. 
United  States  mail  cars  were  stopped.  Cleveland  sent  battalions  of  United 
States  troops  to  Chicago  to  check  the  violence.  John  P.  Altgeld,  the 
"Labor"  Governor  of  Illinois,  protested  that  the  President's  action  was  an 
illegal  interference  with  the  government  of  the  State. 

International  complications  under  the  Monroe  Doctrine  arose  in  1895. 

122 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

Great  Britain  was  about  to  force  Venezuela  to  accept  a  disputed  boundary 
line.  The  United  States  urged  that  the  dispute  be  left  to  arbitration. 
The  British  Cabinet  replied  that  the  matter  did  not  concern  Washington, 
and  in  substance  that  it  take  itself  out  of  the  business  of  protecting  Latin- 
American  countries.  President  Cleveland,  who  had  nailed  his  flag  to  tariff 
reform  rather  than  be  elected  without  it,  who  had  driven  a  hostile  Congress 
to  demonetize  silver,  and  who  had  defied  lawlessness,  met  the  situation  with 
an  iron  hand — he  wrote  the  strongest  message  on  international  relations 
that  had  ever  issued  from  the  White  House.  He  invoked  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  a  policy  which  England  had  long  claimed  with  pride  to  have 
inspired.  Congress  upheld  him  and  England  and  Venezuela  arbitrated 
the  question. 

The  next  step  of  importance,  which  was  to  engage  the  Government's 
attention,  was  to  lead  the  country  into  war.  The  islanders  in  Cuba  for 
years  past  had  been  fighting  for  independence  from  Spain,  and  the 
Spaniards  had  been  retaliating  with  cruel  measures,  which  brought  criticism 
from  the  American  people.  Congress,  in  1896,  recognized  the  belligerent 
rights  of  Cuba  and  the  President  tried  to  persuade  Spain  to  grant  it  inde- 
pendence. 

With  McKinley  and  the  Republican  Party  coming  into  the  Presidency 
in  1897,  came  the  Dingley  Tariff.  In  the  Yukon,  a  rich  deposit  of  gold 
was  discovered  and  there  was  a  rush  of  a  multitude  of  gold  hunters  to  this 
region,  which  lay  on  both  sides  of  the  Canadian-Alaskan  frontier,  and 
which  created  some  friction  between  Canada  and  the  United  States.  New 
York  City,  with  all  its  suburbs,  was  consolidated  into  "Greater  New  York." 

The  moment  now  came  when,  by  a  series  of  events,  the  United  States 
was  to  stand  before  the  nations  of  the  earth  as  a  great  world  power.  The 
Hawaiian  Islands  were  annexed  to  the  United  States  in  1898.  The  con- 
tinued repressive  policy  of  Spain  in  Cuba  increased  the  filibustering  expedi- 
tions from  America  to  such  an  extent  that  the  Government  was  compelled 
to  police  many  of  its  ports  to  maintain  neutrality.  During  this  growing 
tension  the  American  battleship  Maine  was  blown  up  in  Havana  Harbor, 
carrying  to  their  death  over  250  of  her  crew.  Congress  issued  an  ulti- 
matum, demanding  the  withdrawal  of  Spain  from  Cuba.  On  her  refusal, 
Congress  declared  war,  on  April  28,  1898.  (See  Chapter  on  "Great 
American  Wars.") 

The  last  year  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  was  a  crowning  year  for  the 
triumphant  republic.  It  saw  the  end  of  an  old  era — and  the  beginning  of 
a  new  democracy.  Great  problems  figuratively  fought  for  decisive  action. 

The  new  century  marked  the  dawn  of  the  new  age — the  golden  age  of 
American  achievement.  The  story  of  the  American  people  now  moves 

'l23 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

rapidly  to  its  grand  climax,  increasing  in  its  intensity.  The  new  century 
begins  with  the  assassination  of  McKinley,  and  with  Roosevelt  taking  the 
oath  of  office.  Here  we  witness  the  rise  of  the  American  people  to  their 
glorious  position  as  the  greatest  nation  on  earth.  We  follow  Roosevelt 
and  Taft  and  Wilson.  We  pass  through  great  news  events.  We  meet 
Peary,  the  discoverer  of  the  North  Pole,  and  other  great  men  of  achieve- 
ment. We  see  the  building  of  the  Panama  Canal;  we  go  to  the  Pacific 
Expositions.  We  begin  to  realize  the  vastness  and  greatness  of  our  coun- 
try to-day ;  its  tremendous  richness,  its  natural  resources,  its  great  cities,  its 
rivers  and  mountains;  its  scenic  beauties;  its  great  engineering  achieve- 
ments; its  magnificent  buildings. 

The  East,  West,  North  and  South  are  brought  before  the  eyes  of  the 
people — mines,  wheat  fields,  orchards,  vineyards,  fisheries,  sheep  and  cattle 
ranches,  the  great  animal  and  agricultural  wealth  of  the  nation. 

Let  us  glance  quickly  at  the  cinematographic  record  of  events  as 
they  pass  before  us.  Provincial  America  is  now  a  world  power — stretch- 
ing into  the  Orient.  Hawaii,  petitioning  for  annexation,  was  organized 
as  a  territory  in  1900.  Civil  Government  was  established  in  the  Philip- 
pines. Porto  Rico  also  became  a  dependency,  receiving  a  civil  govern- 
ment. Cuba  was  allowed  to  set  up  a  government  of  its  own,  with  the 
understanding  that  it  was  to  be  under  American  supervision  until  such 
time  as  it  was  well  able  to  care  for  itself.  Disorders  in  China  led  to  the 
killing  of  foreigners,  Americans  among  them.  Co-operating  with  England, 
Germany,  and  France,  the  President  ordered  warships  and  land  forces  to 
China.  The  allied  forces  put  down  rebellion  and  took  the  city  of  Pekin. 
A  heavy  indemnity  was  exacted  of  the  Chinese  by  the  countries  involved, 
but  the  American  Government  wisely  returned  all  sums  over  what  it  con- 
sidered just  compensation — a  deed  which  brought  its  reward  in  the  good 
will  of  the  Chinese  and  a  good  market  for  American  goods. 

The  Samoan  Islands  under  the  joint  protection  of  Germany,  Eng- 
land, and  the  United  States  were  divided  in  1900,  the  United  States  tak- 
ing Tutuila.  McKinley  again  defeated  Bryan  for  the  Presidency  on  free 
silver  with  the  new  issue  of  Imperialism  injected.  A  gigantic  coal  strike 
occurred  in  the  Pennsylvania  mines,  seriously  threatening  all  the  Eastern 
cities  with  a  hard  coal  famine  for  the  winter. 

McKinley,  the  third  President  of  the  United  States  to  be  assassinated, 
was  shot  by  an  anarchist  at  the  Buffalo  Exposition  in  1901,  just  after  the 
President  had  finished  his  greatest  speech.  Roosevelt  succeeded  to  the 
Presidency.  The  Hay-Pauncefote  Treaty,  superceding  the  Clayton-Bulwer 
Treaty,  was  negotiated  between  England  and  the  United  States,  giving 
the  latter  the  sole  right  to  build  the  Isthmian  Canal  and  to  be  its  owner 

124 


(JALLERY    OF   PORTRAITS    OF   PRESIDENTS   OF   TIIE    UNITED    STATES— 1881-1807.. 


GALIvEIlV    OF    1'OKTUAITS    OF    TRESIDEXTS    OF    TIIE    UNITED    STATES— 1897-191?. 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

and  protector,  while  at  the  same  time  making  it  a  natural  waterway.  The 
United  States  at  first  chose  the  Nicaragua  route  but  later  settled  upon 
the  route  at  Panama.  Marconi,  an  English  resident  of  Italian  nativity, 
in  experimenting  with  the  Hertzian  waves  of  electricity,  discovered  a  prac- 
tical means  to  employ  these  waves  to  send  messages  without  wires. 

Industrial  Age  at  Dawn  of  Twentieth  Century 

THE  industrial  age  now  set  in  with  tremendous  momentum — a 
season  of  unprecedented  prosperity  began.  Great  numbers  of 
"trusts"  were  organized  under  the  favorable  laws  of  New  Jersey, 
reaching  their  tentacles  over  the  whole  country.  Another  gigantic  coal 
strike  in  Pennsylvania  occurred  in  1902.  President  Roosevelt  persuaded 
the  mine  owners  and  the  miners  to  arbitrate  the  dispute.  It  was  settled  on 
terms  largely  in  favor  of  the  miners.  Funds  from  the  sale  of  public  lands 
were  appropriated  for  the  irrigation  of  Western  lands  and  huge  dams  and 
reservoirs  were  constructed  in  Colorado  and  other  neighboring  States. 
Morgan  organized  the  great  "shipping  trust"  of  freight  lines  across  the  At- 
lantic. Marconi  came  to  America  and  sent  a  wireless  message  across  the 
ocean  to  Europe. 

Great  developments  require  constant  readjustments.  With  the  rise 
of  the  powerful  combinations  of  capital  the  Elkins  Anti-Rebate  Bill  was 
passed  in  1903,  increasing  the  power  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commis- 
sion over  shippers.  A  large  number  of  railroads  were  brought  under  the 
scrutiny  of  the  courts.  A  low  tariff  between  Cuba  and  the  United  States 
was  adopted.  The  boundary  of  Southern  Alaska  was  fixed  by  a  court  of 
joint  arbitration.  The  United  States  and  Colombia  had  not  succeeded  in 
negotiating  a  treaty,  for  the  right  of  way  of  the  Panama  Canal,  when  a 
revolution  broke  out  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  setting  up  a  separate 
government.  President  Roosevelt  recognized  the  new  republic,  nego- 
tiated a  treaty  with  it  instead  of  Colombia,  and  thus  established  the  Canal 
Zone.  Congress  created  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  and 
gave  it  power  to  investigate  the  organization  and  general  management 
of  any  corporation  other  than  railroads  engaged  in  interstate  commerce. 
The  investigations  resulted  in  numerous  suits  brought  by  the  Govern- 
ment against  "trusts."  The  Government  brought  suit  against  the  North- 
ern Securities  Company  on  the  ground  that  it  was  an  organization  whose 
acts  were  in  restraint  of  interstate  commerce,  and  the  United  States  Su- 
preme Court  sustained  the  Government.  The  court  also  decided  that  the 
"Beef  Trust"  was  a  combination  that  restrained  interstate  trade. 

The  new  regime  was  in  full  operation.  Roosevelt  was  elected  Pres- 
ident by  the  largest  majority  ever  cast,  over  two  million  votes.  The  third 

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AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

International  Exposition  on  American  soil  was  held  in  St.  Louis  in  1904 
to  celebrate  the  Centenary  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase.  The  United  States 
took  charge  of  the  custom  houses  of  San  Domingo  in  1905  in  order  to 
manage  the  country's  foreign  indebtedness.  President  Roosevelt  acted  as 
mediator  in  the  Russo-Japanese  War,  and  the  two  nations  signed  a  treaty 
of  Peace  at  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire.  A  number  of  great  life  in- 
surance companies  of  New  York  were  investigated  by  a  legislative  com- 
mittee and  reorganized  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  new  economic  refor- 
mation. 

World  power  brought  to  America  larger  responsibilities.  General 
Wood  pacified  the  "Moros"  in  the  Philippines  in  1906.  Cuba  became 
turbulent,  and  the  United  States  resumed  the  military  occupation  of  the 
island.  Secretary  of  State  Root  visited  South  America  as  a  delegate  to 
the  Pan  American  Congress,  cementing  friendship  with  America's  south- 
ern neighbors.  Congress  voted  to  construct  a  lock  canal  across  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama.  The  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  was  authorized  to  fix 
a  minimum  rate  for  the  transportation  of  certain  articles.  Congress  passed 
a  Pure  Food  Law,  forbidding  the  sale  of  impure  foods  in  interstate  trade 
and  requiring  the  manufacturers  of  patent  drugs  to  name  all  ingredients 
that  might  be  considered  injurious.  This  law  supplemented  the  State  laws 
against  impure  foods. 

The  economic  readjustments  created  a  financial  disturbance  in  1907. 
Georgia  and  Alabama  voted  for  State  prohibition  and  the  movement 
spread  to  Kentucky  and  other  States.  Judge  Landis,  of  the  United  States 
Circuit  Court,  in  Chicago,  imposed  a  fine  of  $29,240,000  on  the  Stand- 
ard Oil  Company,  the  biggest  fine  ever  imposed  by  a  court.  John  D. 
Rockefeller  gave  $32,000,000  to  continue  the  work  of  the  General  Edu- 
cation Board. 

The  American  Navy,  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Evans,  sailed 
from  Hampton  Roads  in  1908  for  a  cruise  around  the  world,  the  most 
splendid  armada  that  ever  circled  the  globe.  President  Roosevelt,  while 
refusing  to  be  a  candidate  again  for  the  Presidency,  declared  for  Secre- 
tary Taft,  who  was  elected.  The  National  Civic  Federation,  with  repre- 
sentatives of  both  Capital  and  Labor,  met  in  New  York.  Congress  organ- 
ized the  Inland  Waterways  Commission;  the  Monetary  Commission  or- 
ganized under  Vreeland-Aldrich  Currency  began  its  session  in  Washington. 
The  United  States  withdrew  from  Cuba  and  the  island  government  was  re- 
stored in  1909.  The  Payne-Aldrich  Tariff  was  passed.  The  United 
States  and  Great  Britain  submitted  to  the  Hague  Tribunal  a  dispute  over 
fisheries. 

Then  came  the  great  discovery — on  April  9th,  1909,  Lieutenant 

128 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

Peary,  who  had  spent  twenty  years  and  a  half  million  dollars  in  Arctic 
Expeditions,  stood  on  the  apex  of  this  globe  at  its  North  Pole — and  planted 
the  American  flag.  The  Government  created  a  postal  savings  bank  to 
encourage  thrift  by  inducing  the  people  to  make  small  deposits.  The 
governors  of  the  various  States  met  in  Washington  and  organized  the 
House  of  Governors  as  a  clearing  house  for  the  discussion  of  State  legis- 
lation. So  great  had  grown  the  volume  of  litigation  from  the  work  of 
the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  that  the  Court  of  Commerce  was 
created  to  take  care  of  it  and  the  powers  of  the  Commission  were  increased 
so  that  it  could  investigate  a  carrier  without  first  having  received  a  com- 
plaint. The  jurist,  Charles  E.  Hughes,  who  had  made  a  unique  record 
as  reform  Governor  of  New  York,  accepted  a  place  on  the  bench  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

Gigantic  Growth  of  Nation  Requires  Economic  Readjustments 

THE  wonderful  growth  of  the  country  caused  economic  inequalities. 
With  such  rapid  progress  it  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that  all  so- 
cial factions  should  keep  pace.  It  is  interesting  to  note,  however, 
that  no  single  interest  is  able  long  to  maintain  itself  at  the  expense  of 
the  others.  It  is  especially  to  be  witnessed  that  wheneve-r  danger  arises, 
then  democracy  asserts  its  power  and  assumes  control.  The  trusts  had 
scarcely  reached  a  state  of  organization  when  they  were  levelled  by  the 
demand  of  the  populace.  The  voice  of  the  multitude  arises  and  the  strong 
arm  of  democracy  strikes  whenever  and  wherever  its  welfare  is  threat- 
ened. This  was  proved  many  times  in  these  early  years  of  the  Twentieth 
Century.  The  increase  in  the  cost  of  living  created  much  dissatisfaction 
and  was  charged  against  the  corporations.  The  trusts  and  the  Payne- 
Aldrich  Tariff  were  severely  blamed.  There  was  also  much  unrest  in 
labor  circles.  On  many  of  the  great  railroads  demands  were  made  for 
higher  wages.  Several  systems  granted  a  considerable  increase.  The 
population  of  the  country  had  grown  44  per  cent,  in  twenty  years,  while 
the  expenditures  of  the  Federal  Government  had  increased  170  per  cent. 
In  the  midst  of  this  agitation  the  Supreme  Court  ordered  the  rehearing 
of  the  suits  against  the  Standard  Oil  and  Tobacco  Trusts.  Woman  Suf- 
frage was  adopted  in  the  State  of  Washington.  This  new  addition  to 
woman  suffrage  gave  the  movement  a  new  momentum  and  plans  for  the 
organizing  of  campaigns  were  made  in  the  Eastern  States. 

The  year  1910  had  its  full  share  of  strikes  throughout  the  country, 
and  the  great  burden  of  the  people  was  the  high  cost  of  living.  The 
Democrats  charged  it  to  the  Payne-Aldrich  Tariff;  the  Republicans  at- 
tributed it  to  greatly  increased  production  of  gold;  and  many  economists 

129 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

blamed  it  on  the  increasing  luxuries  of  the  people,  or  "the  cost  of  high 
living."  The  eleventh  census  6f  the  United  States  showed  that  there 
were  in  the  continental  United  States  91,972,226  people  as  against  75,- 
994,596  in  1900.  About  45  per  cent,  of  the  population  were  urban.  In 
the  older  States  there  was  a  relative  decline  of  rural  population. 

Economic  readjustment  stirred  the  business  world.  Congress  passed 
a  reciprocity  bill  with  Canada  in  1911,  but  the  Dominion  rejected  it. 
The  Supreme  Court  ordered  the  Standard  Oil  Company,  which  controlled 
sixty-five  companies,  to  dissolve  within  six  months.  But  in  doing  so  the 
court  reassured  business  that  reasonable  restraint  was  not  illegal.  Two 
weeks  later  the  court  ordered  the  American  Tobacco  Trust  to  dissolve 
within  six  months  and  directed  the  lower  court  to  devise  some  way  for  re- 
arrangement. The  Steel  Trust  was  also  investigated  but  as  its  monopoly 
had  decreased  from  60  to  50  per  cent,  in  control  of  its  ore  output,  it  was 
not  then  prosecuted. 

Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  the  last  remaining  territories  in  the  con- 
tinental United  States,  were  admitted  to  Statehood;  there  were  now  forty- 
eight  stars  on  the  flag  of  the  republic.  Congress  passed  a  resolution  to  be 
submitted  to  the  States  for  ratification,  amending  the  Constitution  so  that 
United  States  Senators  could  be  elected  by  popular  vote.  The  Amend- 
ment was  ratified  by  the  States  two  years  later. 

Trusts  were  now  collapsing  like  a  house  of  cards  in  191 1.  The  Wire 
Trust  dissolved  itself;  the  Electric  Trust  was  dissolved.  The  Steel  Trust 
announced  its  intention  to  cancel  its  lease  on  its  northern  lands  and  to  re- 
duce rates  on  its  railroads,  but  notwithstanding  this  concession  the  Gov- 
ernment brought  suit  against  this  trust.  The  Standard  Oil  and  the  To- 
bacco Trusts  presented  plans  for  reorganization  and  they  were  accepted. 
The  treaty  with  America's  old  historic  friend,  Russia,  was  abrogated  be- 
cause Russia  had  refused  to  admit  naturalized  American  Jews  who  had 
left  the  Empire  without  complying  with  the  regulations  as  to  expatriation. 
The  Supreme  Court  legalized  the  corporation  tax  and  the  Federal  Reserva- 
tion of  forests  without  the  consent  of  the  States  containing  the  forests. 
The  Woman's  Rights  movement  captured  California  by  having  a  suffrage 
clause  put  into  the  State's  Constitution  and  giving  them  also  the  right  to  be- 
come jurors.  The  women  had  now  practically  conquered  their  cause  in  the 
Far  West  and  they  turned  their  faces  to  the  East  with  onward  wills. 

On  the  morning  of  April  i6th,  1912,  the  whole  world  was  startled 
by  the  greatest  steamship  tragedy  since  the  American  invention  revolu- 
tionized the  seas — the  sinking  of  the  giant  White  Star  Liner  Titanic  on 
her  maiden  voyage,  by  striking  an  iceberg  in  the  North  Atlantic  on  the 
night  preceding  at  about  1 1  o'clock.  Over  two  thousand  persons  perished, 

130 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

a  large  portion  of  whom  were  Americans.  A  lunatic,  named  Shrank,  shot 
Roosevelt  in  Milwaukee,  but  the  wound  did  not  prove  serious.  Wilson 
was  elected  President.  The  Supreme  Court  ordered  the  Union  Pacific  to 
discontinue  its  control  over  the  Southern  Pacific,  which  it  had  acquired 
through  the  "Harriman  Merger."  The  Pujo  Congressional  Committee 
investigated  the  "Money  Trust."  The  Committee  reported  that  there  were 
evidences  of  a  money  trust,  that  is,  the  concentration  of  capital  in  the 
hands  of  a  small  group  of  great  bankers,  and  proposed  legislation  for  clear- 
ing houses  and  banks.  Michigan,  Oregon,  Kansas,  and  Arizona  were 
added  to  the  States  granting  suffrage  to  women,  making  in  all  ten  States. 
A  strike  that  attracted  unusual  interest  occurred  among  the  14,000  Slavs 
and  Italians  in  the  woolen  mills  of  Lawrence,  Massachusetts.  The  strike 
had  been  caused  by  a  reduction  of  wages  on  account  of  shortening  hours 
of  labor  by  State  legislation.  It  was  organized  by  "Industrial  Workers 
of  the  World"  and  grew  so  violent  that  the  State  militia  had  to  be  called 
out.  There  was  bloodshed,  but  the  dispute  was  finally  settled  in  favor  of 
the  strikers.  This  was  the  most  important  of  a  number  of  strikes  in  the 
country,  all  mainly  caused  by  the  high  cost  of  living. 

Triumph  of  Democracy  and  Financial  Reconstruction 

THE  trend  of  democracy  gathered  momentum.  The  United  States 
Supreme  Court  declared  illegal  the  Patten  pool  in  cotton  as  a  re- 
straint of  trade  under  the  Sherman  Anti-Trust  Law  in  1913.  The 
Cash  Register  Company  was  adjudged  as  doing  business  in  restraint  of 
trade  by  a  Federal  Court;  on  appeal  to  the  higher  court  this  decision 
was  reversed.  The  Constitutional  Amendment,  levying  an  income  tax, 
was  ratified  by  the  States.  President  Wilson  called  Congress  in  special 
session  to  pass  a  tariff  and  other  legislation.  The  United  States  with- 
drew from  participation  in  what  was  called  the  Six  Power  Loan  in  China. 
The  California  Legislature  passed  a  law  prohibiting  aliens  ineligible  to 
citizenship  from  owning  land  in  the  State.  The  Japanese  ambassador 
protested  that  the  act  violated  the  treaty  of  1911,  but  this  treaty  gave  the 
Japanese  the  right  only  to  lease  land  and  own  or  lease  buildings  but  did 
not  specify  agricultural  lands.  Secretary  Bryan  hastened  to  California 
and  made  a  speech  before  the  legislature  with  a  view  to  preventing  the 
passage  of  the  bill  or  of  modifying  the  legislation,  if  possible.  The  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Gettysburg  was  celebrated  on  July  4th,  1913, 
the  President  addressing  55,000  Union  and  Confederate  War  Veterans  en- 
camped on  the  ground. 

The  economic  revolution  in  Mexico  threatened  the  peace  of  the 
United  States.     In  the  revolt  against  Madero's  government  the  Mexican 

133 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

executive  was  murdered.  General  Huerta  seized  the  office  and  another 
revolution  was  started  in  the  North  to  depose  him.  President  Wilson 
sent  Ex-Governor  John  Lind,  of  Minnesota,  as  an  envoy  to  Huerta  to  re- 
quest him  to  resign  from  the  Presidency  and  to  convene  an  election  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment  at  which  Huerta  himself  should  not  be  a  candi- 
date. President  Wilson  believed  that  Huerta  had  usurped  the  office,  pos- 
sibly by  complicity  in  the  assassination  of  Madero,  and  refused  to  recog- 
nize him  as  the  constitutional  President  of  Mexico.  Huerta  refused  to 
accede  to  the  President's  wishes  and  the  Mexican  War  continued. 

Radical  readjustments  in  our  domestic  affairs  now  took  place.  The 
Underwood  Tariff  was  passed,  greatly  reducing  the  custom  duties.  The 
Currency  Bill  was  passed,  creating  a  Federal  Reserve  system  of  banking 
with  twelve  reserve  banks  situated  in  twelve  cities  of  the  United  States. 
Michigan  adopted  the  Initiative  and  Referendum.  Pennsylvania  passed 
a  eugenic  marriage  law,  requiring  candidates  for  matrimony  to  present  cer- 
tificates of  health  from  physicians.  Illinois  adopted  woman  suffrage  to 
the  limit  of  its  constitution.  The  "Industrial  Workers  of  the  World"  en- 
gineered another  serious  strike  among  the  employees  of  the  textile  mills 
in  Paterson,  New  Jersey. 

American  finance  was  now  undergoing  a  complete  reorganization.  As 
a  result  of  the  report  of  the  Pujo  Committee,  members  of  the  great  banking 
house  of  J.  P.  Morgan  and  Co.  voluntarily  resigned  from  thirty  out  of 
thirty-nine  directorships  in  1914.  Morgan  retired  from  the  directorship 
of  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  and  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company,  while  his  partners  retired  from  the  United  States  Steel  Corpor- 
ation and  the  Westinghouse  Electric  Company.  Other  bankers  followed 
the  Morgan  example. 

World  affairs  seemed  to  concentrate  in  America.  The  President, 
deeming  that  there  was  no  constitutional  government  in  Mexico,  removed 
the  embargo  on  arms  to  aid  the  insurgents  to  drive  Huerta  from  his  of- 
fice. England  protested  against  the  Canal  Toll  Bill,  exempting  American 
coastwise  shipping  from  paying  tolls  in  the  passage  through  the  Panama 
Canal.  President  Wilson  went  before  Congress  with  a  message  in  which 
he  declared  that  the  nation  was  "too  big  and  powerful  and  self-respect- 
ing" to  put  a  strained  interpretation  on  its  promises,  and  the  bill  was  re- 
pealed. 

A  party  of  American  blue  jackets  from  Admiral  Mayo's  fleet  at  Tam- 
pico,  Mexico,  while  ashore  to  obtain  petrol,  was  arrested  by  the  authorities 
of  the  Huerta  Government.  The  Americans  were  soon  released,  but  the 
Admiral  demanded  that  the  Huerta  Government  apologize  by  firing  a  sa- 
lute of  twenty-one  guns  to  the  American  flag.  Huerta  replied  that  he 

134 


NARRATIVE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

would  comply  if  the  Mexican  flag  should  be  hoisted  with  the  American 
flag  and  both  flags  be  saluted  together.  The  Washington  Government 
objected  on  the  ground  that  this  would  amount  to  a  recognition  of  the 
Huerta  Government.  President  Wilson  laid  the  matter  before  Congress 
and  asked  its  authority  to  use  the  military  and  naval  forces  in  Mexico 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  enforce  the  dignity  of  the  United  States.  But  be- 
fore this  authority  was  granted  by  Congress,  Admiral  Fletcher,  with  a 
fleet,  was  dispatched  to  Vera  Cruz  to  seize  the  custom  house.  The  Ad- 
miral demanded  the  surrender  of  the  town,  and  on  being  refused,  he  landed 
a  battalion  of  marines,  who  were  fired  on  by  snipers.  The  ship  bombarded 
the  barracks  and  the  naval  academy,  while  the  marines  took  possession 
of  Vera  Cruz.  Commissioners  from  Huerta's  Government  met  the  ambas- 
sadors to  America  from  Brazil,  Argentina  and  Chile,  with  representatives 
from  the  United  States  Government  at  a  conference  at  Niagara  Falls.  The 
insurgents  were  invited  to  send  representatives  to  this  conference  but  they 
did  not  officially  do  so.  The  conference  hastened  the  fall  of  Huerta  by 
demonstrating  to  him  that  the  stable  South  American  republics  were  op- 
posed to  his  regime.  Huerta  fled  from  Mexico  and  sailed  for  Spain. 

The  period  of  financial  reconstruction,  caused  by  overgrowth  of  huge 
industries,  continued.  Interlocking  directorships  were  forbidden.  The 
great  railroad  system  in  New  England — New  York,  New  Haven  and  Hart- 
ford— underwent  reorganization. 

World  Problems  Culminate  in  World  War 

THE  culmination  of  world  problems  came  with  the  outbreak  of  the 
Great  War  in  Europe  in  1914.  A  tremendous  financial  crisis  in 
America  was  averted  by  quick  action.  An  immense  amount  of 
stock,  both  domestic  and  foreign,  would  be  thrown  on  the  market  the 
next  day,  creating  a  panic  by  taking  all  the  gold  out  of  the  country.  The 
governors  of  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange  decided  not  to  open  the  mar- 
ket and  run  this  great  risk.  For  nearly  six  months  the  Exchange  remained 
closed  from  fear  of  a  deluge  of  stocks.  The  whole  business  world  of 
America  trembled  under  the  great  shock.  Commerce  piled  up  on  the 
wharves  of  New  York,  Boston,  Baltimore,  and  other  eastern  cities,  for 
the  whole  transatlantic  shipping  trade  had  become  demoralized.  The 
Mauritania  and  the  Cedric,  under  temporary  precaution,  put  into  Halifax. 
The  Kronprincessin  Cecilie,  with  $10,000,000  gold  for  London,  fled  back 
across  the  Atlantic  under  a  wireless  message  from  Berlin  and  ran  into 
Bar  Harbor,  Maine.  Emergency  currency  for  $500,000,000  was  ordered 
printed  for  any  sudden  emergency  that  might  arise.  Great  numbers  of 
Americans  were  caught  in  the  European  War  Zone,  and  for  nearly  a  month 

135 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

a  frantic  cry  for  help  to  get  them  home  rang  across  the  Atlantic.  The 
American  Government  sent  $250,000  in  gold  and  two  or  three  ships  to  res- 
cue these  stranded  travellers. 

President  Wilson  at  once  rendered  his  services  for  meditation  to  the 
warring  nations  and  issued  a  proclamation  of  strict  neutrality.  The  Amer- 
ican Red  Cross  issued  a  call  for  money  to  prevent  the  Belgiums  from  starv- 
ing and  the  response  was  both  instant  and  generous,  over  $20,000,000  in 
American  food  and  clothing  reaching  the  destitute  before  the  New  Year. 
Secretary  Bryan  secured  signatories  to  twenty-three  arbitration  treaties 
and  twelve  peace  commissions,  giving  a  year  of  grace  for  discussion  of  an 
issue  between  two  nations  before  either  should  force  the  issue.  Congress 
passed  the  Trade  Commission  Act,  creating  a  tribunal  to  arbitrate  com- 
mercial disputes,  and  the  Clayton  Anti-Trust  Bill,  preventing  interlock- 
ing directorship.  An  emergency  war  taxation  bill  producing  $100,000,- 
ooo  was  passed.  No  sooner  had  the  war  broken  out  in  Europe  than  a 
campaign  for  and  against  armaments  was  started  in  the  United  States. 

The  eventful  year  of  1914  closed  with  complex  problems.  The 
Miners'  Union  called  out  11,000  miners  because  the  owners  had  refused 
their  demands,  which  included  freedom  to  buy  provisions  and  supplies 
when  they  pleased,  to  choose  their  own  doctors,  the  right  to  elect  their  own 
chief  weigher.  President  Wilson  appealed  to  both  sides  to  try  to  end 
the  strike  and  it  was  finally  settled  by  a  commission.  The  Cape  Cod 
Canal,  connecting  Buzzard's  Bay  with  Barnstable  and  dispensing  with  the 
long  sea  route  around  Cape  Cod  between  Boston  and  New  York,  was 
opened;  it  cost  $12,000,000.  The  Panama  Canal  was  unofficially  opened 
to  general  traffic.  The  first  vessel,  steaming  through  the  canal,  was  the 
United  States  vessel  Ancon,  6,000  tons,  at  the  head  of  a  long  fleet  of 
steamers. 

America — The  Hope  of  the  Peoples  of  the  Earth 

THE  remarkable  year  of  1915  was  ushered  in  with  world  war, 
economic  reconstruction,  and  a  general  assay  of  civilization.  It 
was  announced  that  a  group  of  American  bankers  had  made  a  loan 
of  $15,000,000  to  Argentina.  This  fact  is  significant,  as  it  is  the  first 
time  that  an  American  banking  institution  has  ever  loaned  money  to  a 
South  American  country.  It  indicates  the  practical  effort  that  is  now  be- 
ing made  to  cement  friendship  and  trade  relations  with  Latin-America. 
President  Wilson,  in  an  address  in  Washington,  laid  down  the  follow- 
ing principles  for  the  conduct  of  business :  First — publicity  of  operation ; 
second,  full  equivalent  for  the  money;  third,  conscience  in  transactions; 
fourth,  spirit  of  service.  The  creation  in  the  United  States  in  time  of 

136 


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S'S 


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I— I    fli 


peace  of  the  same  kind  of  united  spirit  which  moves  nations  during  wars 
was  advocated  by  the  President.  North  Dakota,  Oregon,  South  Dakota 
all  abolished  capital  punishment.  More  than  six  hundred  business  or- 
ganizations were  represented  at  the  meeting  of  the  American  Chamber  of 
Commerce  in  Washington.  Every  State  in  the  Union  and  all  the  island 
dependencies  sent  delegates  to  the  greatest  commercial  congress  ever  as- 
sembled. The  legislatures  of  Alabama,  Iowa,  California  and  Pennsyl- 
vania passed  laws  prohibiting  child  labor. 

The  European  War  drew  America  dangerously  near  the  maelstrom. 
The  contraband  question  loomed  large  on  the  horizon.  Copper  and  brass 
sent  from  New  York  to  Germany  was  seized  at  Copenhagen.  So  many 
steamers  with  American  cargoes  were  held  up  by  English  warships  that 
the  United  States  determined  to  furnish  inspectors  to  certify  cargoes. 
An  arrangement  was  made  between  Germany  and  Austria  on  the  one  hand, 
and  Great  Britain  on  the  other,  for  American  representatives  to  inspect 
war  prisons.  The  United  States  sent  notes  to  both  Great  Britain  and 
Germany  concerning  the  war  zone  in  the  North  Sea  and  around  the  British 
Isles.  President  Wilson  advised  the  German  Government  that  the  Amer- 
ican Government  would  hold  it  responsible  for  any  loss  of  American  prop- 
erty or  lives.  In  both  notes  it  was  suggested  that  Great  Britain  and  Ger- 
many restrict  use  of  mines,  and  abandon  submarine  attacks  on  merchant 
vessels. 

The  beginning  of  1915  found  the  Government  of  Mexico  in  the  hands 
of  two  rival  factions.  Many  thousands  of  non-combatants  were  reported 
as  starving.  President  Wilson  informed  General  Carranza  that  unless 
there  was  an  improvement  in  conditions  with  respect  to  foreigners  in 
Mexican  territory  under  his  control,  it  might  be  necessary  for  the  Amer- 
ican Government  to  obtain  the  desired  protection.  The  Panama  Pacific 
Exposition  was  opened  in  San  Francisco,  forty-five  foreign  nations  and 
forty-three  States  and  Territories  sent  exhibits.  A  great  American  indus- 
try, the  Ford  Motor  Company,  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  shared  $10,000,- 
ooo  with  its  20,000  employees  at  its  Detroit  and  branch  factories,  giv- 
ing an  exhibition  of  the  workings  of  the  biggest  profit-sharing  scheme 
organized  in  America.  Alabama,  Arizona,  Colorado,  Arkansas,  Oregon, 
and  Utah  all  joined  the  state-wide  prohibition  States.  The  Dalles-Celilo 
Canal,  opening  the  Columbia  River  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  Lewiston, 
Idaho — 475  miles — was  finished  after  ten  years'  work  at  a  cost  of  nearly 
$5,000,000  by  the  Federal  Government. 

The  European  War  began  to  write  many  great  events  into  the  pages 
of  American  history.  The  most  serious  and  dramatic  of  them  all  was  the 
destruction  of  the  Cunard  Liner,  Lusitania,  off  the  coast  of  Ireland,  by 

139 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

a  torpedo  fired  from  a  German  submarine  without  warning;  1,365  lives 
were  lost  out  of  a  total  of  2,160  aboard  the  steamer.  The  number  of 
Americans  who  died  was  placed  at  107.  Many  of  those  who  perished 
were  women  and  children.  No  event  of  the  war  had  so  shocked  the  civ- 
ized  world.  Before  the  steamer  sailed  from  New  York,  the  German 
Embassy  at  Washington  had  assumed  the  task  of  warning  Americans  not 
to  go  aboard  of  the  steamer.  After  all  the  facts  relating  to  the  sinking 
of  the  Lusitania  had  been  ascertained,  and  when  the  excitement  had  some- 
what receded,  President  Wilson  addressed  a  note  to  the  German  Govern- 
ment warning  it  that  the  American  Government  would  expect  it  to  dis- 
avow the  act,  make  reparation  for  it,  and  promise  to  stop  the  destruction 
of  non-combatants  on  passenger  ships  in  the  war  zone.  Secretary  of 
State  Bryan  resigned  from  the  cabinet,  giving  as  his  reason  his  pledge  to 
the  "peace  at  any  cost"  policy.  For  months  the  controversy  continued, 
the  German  submarines  in  the  meantime  sinking  other  ships,  with  the  loss 
of  American  lives.  Among  other  things  the  controversy  had  the  effect  of 
emphasizing  the  cleavage  between  the  faction  for  preparedness  for  war  and 
the  faction  for  peace.  President  Wilson  stood  by  his  strict  neutrality  pol- 
icy and  a  long  series  of  diplomatic  negotiations  resulted. 

It  is  at  this  point  that  this  rapid  survey  of  more  than  four  hundred 
years  of  American  civilization  is  brought  to  a  close.  Later  events  must 
require  adjudication  before  they  have  reached  the  state  of  finality  which  ad- 
mits them  to  permanent  historical  record.  An  analysis  of  the  narrative, 
through  which  we  have  just  passed,  will  give  the  reader  a  broad  comprehen- 
sion at  least,  and  perhaps  a  realization  of  the  purpose  and  trend  of  Ameri- 
can progress.  It  depicts  the  noble  struggle  that  it  is  making  against  all 
obstacles — the  courage  and  sacrifice  with  which  it  faces  every  problem. 
Moreover,  it  proves  overwhelmingly  that  if  at  times  the  spirit  of  democracy 
seems  to  be  stifled,  it  arouses  itself  to  herculean  strength  whenever  the  re- 
public seems  endangered. 

The  great  story  of  the  American  people  is  now  rising  to  its  grand 
climax.  We  stand  at  the  gateways  to  the  New  World  (the  harbors  of 
New  York  and  San  Francisco)  and  watch  the  people  of  all  nations  flock- 
ing into  the  country.  Here  we  see  groups  of  men,  women,  and  children 
of  all  nationalities  who  have  come  to  America  to  cast  their  lots  in  the  fu- 
ture of  this  vast  land  of  opportunity — Germans,  Italians,  Russians,  Chi- 
nese, Africans,  Hindoos — peoples  of  every  race  and  climate  from  all  cor- 
ners of  the  earth — a  great  moving,  throbbing  panorama  of  human  life. 
The  great  procession  of  men  and  events  comes  to  its  close  with  the  peoples 
of  the  earth  gathering  for  protection  under  the  American  flag — the  flag  of 
Triumphant  Democracy ! 

140 


GOVERNMENT 
OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 


"We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident  that  all  men  are  created  equal; 
that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  unalienable  rights; 
that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 

— Declaration  of  Independence. 


w  iHE  American  people  are  working  out  the  problem  of  the  ages — 

the  problem  of  setting  up  before  the  world  a  complete  reali- 
zation of  the  long-sought  ideal  of  "government  of  the  people, 
*^^  by  the  people,  for  the  people."  The  Mosaic  laws  proclaimed 
it;  Athens  attempted  it  before  the  dawn  of  the  Christian  era;  Rome  de- 
clared itself  a  republic.  There  were  flourishing  republics  in  Italy  in  the 
Middle  Ages.  But  it  has  remained  for  America  to  demonstrate  the  per- 
manency and  practicability  of  this  great  principle.  All  preceding  attempts 
failed. 

The  future  of  the  American  nation  is  with  the  people — they  hold  its 
destiny  in  the  hollow  of  their  hands.  We  have  proclaimed  to  the  world 
the  divine  right  of  the  people  to  govern  themselves.  We  have  further 
declared  that  "whenever  any  form  of  government  becomes  destructive  of 
these  ends,  it  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  alter  or  to  abolish  it,  and  to  in- 
stitute a  new  government,  laying  its  foundation  on  such  principles,  and 
organizing  its  powers  in  such  form,  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to 
effect  their  safety  and  happiness." 

This  declaration  places  upon  every  American  a  tremendous  respon- 
sibility— a  moral  responsibility  greater  than  has  ever  before  been  borne 
by  men.  For,  if  this  rich  inheritance  of  Liberty  is  to  be  bequeathed  by 
every  American  to  his  children  as  a  priceless  heritage,  it  must  be  preserved 
by  each  individual.  And  this  means  allegiance  to  the  sacred  principles  set 
forth  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  to  the  doctrines  established 
in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States — the  most  perfect  instrument 
that  human  intellect  and  human  justice  have  yet  been  able  to  conceive. 

Burke  in  his  "Reflections  on  the  Revolution  in  France"  sounded  a 
warning  when  he  exclaimed :  "What  is  Liberty  without  wisdom  and  with- 
out virtue?  It  is  the  greatest  of  all  possible  evils;  for  it  is  folly,  vice 
and  madness,  without  tuition  or  restraint."  It  was  Madame  Roland  who 
cried:  "O  Liberty!  Liberty!  how  many  crimes  are  committed  in  thy 

141 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

name !"  And  Polybius  warned  that  "government  may  take  the  fairest  of 
names,  but  the  worst  of  realities — mob  rule." 

On  the  integrity  of  self-government,  therefore,  the  very  existence  of 
the  republic  depends.  It  rests  on  the  maintenance  of  the  integrity  of  the 
laws  made  by  the  people  and  a  faithful  adherence  to  the  rule  of  the  ma- 
jority, for  "where  law  ends — tyranny  begins." 

Self-government  is  a  process  of  slow  growth,  guided  by  wisdom,  and 
held  in  restraint  from  passions  and  impatience.  It  must  mold  itself 
wisely  into  the  ever-changing  forms  of  social  evolution,  and  must  adapt 
itself  to  the  needs  of  the  largest  number  of  people — working  out  con- 
scientiously the  fullest  possible  measure  of  justice.  Its  greatest  danger 
is  in  the  impatience  of  the  minority;  its  greatest  enemy  is  anarchy;  and  its 
arch-traitor  is  mob  violence.  "Irresponsible  government  spells  ruin." 

It  is  with  this  borne  fully  in  mind  that  we  will  give  a  brief  discussion 
of  the  system  under  which  we  are  endeavoring  to  work  out  the  problem 
of  democracy  in  the  United  States.  It  would  be  folly  to  claim  that  we 
have  a  perfect  system.  Alas,  we  find  too  often  that  we  are  far  from  our 
ideals — far  from  economic  justice — but  we  do  know  that  we  have  the  firm 
foundation  upon  which  to  build  the  instrument  with  which  to  work,  and 
the  machinery  of  government,  which,  if  properly  administered,  weighs  jus- 
tice in  the  scales  more  accurately  than  any  other  system  that  the  genius 
of  man  has  been  able  to  devise.  Let  us  examine  this  machinery : 

How  the  American  Government  Is  Operated 

HE  American  Government  is  that  of  a  union  of  forty-eight  States 
all  working  for  a  common  purpose — liberty,  justice,  equality.  It 
-*•  is  a  democratic  republic.  The  chief  instrument  of  government  is 
a  written  constitution.  This  working  agreement  was  ratified  by  eleven  of 
the  thirteen  original  colonies  and  became  operative  on  March  4,  1789.  In 
this  document,  and  in  the  traditions  which  have  arisen  through  interpre- 
tating  it,  are  to  be  found  the  results  of  the  political  wisdom  and  experience 
of  the  American  colonists,  together  with  much  of  the  political  philosophy 
which  was  current  at  the  end  of  the  Eighteenth  Century.  Inasmuch  as 
each  of  the  forty-eight  States  is  to  a  great  degree  self-governing,  it  is  neces- 
sary, in  making  a  study  of  the  American  Government,  to  examine  their 
general  qualities  and  interrelations  in  addition  to  those  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment. 

The  Constitution  provides  that  there  shall  be  three  branches  of  the 
Federal  Government.  These  are  the  executive,  the  legislative,  and  the 
judiciary.  These  three  branches  check  and  balance  each  other,  thereby 
preventing  the  assumption  of  all  power  by  any  one  of  them  and  insuring 

142 


nr 


HIGHEST  LEGISLATIVE  BODY  IN  THE   REPUBLIC— This  is  a  glimpse  of  the  United   States 

benate  at  the  National  Capital — This  photograph  of  the  emptv  chamber  is 

the  only  picture  that  the  officials  of  the  Senate  will  allow. 


LIHEKTY   HELL  IN  INDEPENDENCE  HALL— Famous  boll  that  rang  out  the  joyful  tiding  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  in  July,   1776 — When  the  Hritish  approached   • 
Philadelphia  the  bell  was  taken  down  by  the  Patriots, 


SIGNING  OF  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE — Here   we   witness    that    epoch-making   moment    on    July 
•4th,  1776,  when  a  new  nation  was  born — This  document    written  by  Jefferson,  was  signed  in  Indepen- 
dence Hall,  in  Philadelphia,  by  the  delegates  from  the  colonies,  on  August  2,  177G. 


riSTORIC  AMERICAN  PAINTING  BY  TRUMBULL— Original  painted  for  rotunda  of  National  Capitol— The 
canvas  portrays  life-like  portraits  of  48  signers — The  five  men  standing  in  front  of  table  are  Adams, 

Sherman,  Livingstone,  Jefferson,  Franklin. 


GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

the  democratic  form  of  the  Government.     Washington  is  the  capital  of  the 
nation. 

How  the  People  Elect-  the  President 

The  Executive  Branch  of  the  Government  is  headed  by  a  president 
whose  term  of  office  is  four  years.  There  is  no  constitutional  limitation 
to  the  number  of  terms  which  one  man  may  enjoy.  He  must,  according  to 
the  Constitution,  be  a  native-born  American,  a  resident  of  the  country  for 
at  least  fourteen  years,  and  must  be  at  least  thirty-five  years  old.  He  re- 
ceives a  salary  of  $75,000  and  additional  allowances.*  The  Presidency 
is  an  elective  office;  the  candidates  for  it  are  nominated  by  the  national 
conventions  of  their  respective  parties.  On  the  same  tickets  are  found  the 
men  who  are  candidates  for  the  office  of  Vice-president,  the  legal  successor 
of  the  President  should  he  leave  office  before  his  term  has  expired. 

These  two  officers  are  not  directly  elected  by  the  voters  of  the  country, 
for,  according  to  the  Constitution,  in  each  State  the  voters  choose  a  num- 
ber of  electors  which  shall  be  equal  to  the  number  of  Senators  plus  the  num- 
bers of  representatives  to  which  that  State  is  entitled  in  Congress.  These 
electors  are  not  bound  by  law  or  the  Constitution  to  vote  for  the  candidates 
coming  from  their  own  parties,  but  tradition  has  brought  into  existence  an 
iron  rule  which  makes  them  do  so.  Therefore  a  party  which  secures  a 
plurality  of  the  votes  in  a  State  is  entitled  to  the  votes  of  all  the  electors  for 
that  State  for  President  and  Vice-President;  and  the  party  that  wins  in  so 
many  States  as  to  insure  control,  through  a  majority,  of  the  Electoral  Col- 
lege, as  the  body  of  electors  is  called,  is  certain  of  having  its  nominees  for 
the  two  offices  elected.  It  may  thus  come  about  that  a  President  is  elected 
by  a  majority  of  the  electors,  though  but  a  minority  of  the  votes  cast 
throughout  the  country  were  for  the  electors  who  in  turn  voted  for  him. 
Qualifications  for  voters  are  determined  by  the  States  and  will  be  considered 
later. 

Duties  of  the  President  of  the  United  States 

A  NEWLY  elected  President  takes  his  oath  of  office,  administered  by 
the  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  and  immediately,  by  the 
terms  of  the  Constitution,  becomes  responsible  for  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  the  laws  and  treaties  of  the 
United  States  and  the  decisions  pronounced  by  the  Courts  of  the  Federal 
Government.     He  has  the  power  to  appoint  to  administrative  offices  two 
groups  of  incumbents — those  who  hold  important  positions,  such  as  heads 
of  departments,  bureaus  and  commissions,  and  those  who  hold  inferior  of- 

*  la   1909  the  total  cost  to  the  nation   for   the   executive  was   $329,420. 

147 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

fices.  The  former  appointments  need  the  ratification  of  the  Senate;  die 
latter  are  in  the  hands  of  the  President  alone.  He  has  the  power  to  remove 
men  in  either  group  without  consent  of  the  Senate. 

The  President  is  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  army  and  navy,  but  the 
right  to  declare  war  is  not  in  his  hands.  The  conduct  of  the  nation's  for- 
eign affairs  is  in  his  control;  he  appoints  the  representatives  of  the  nation 
in  foreign  countries  (with  the  consent  of  the  Senate),  he  can  make  treaties 
(with  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds  of  the  Senate),  he  receives  the  repre- 
sentatives of  foreign  powers,  he  may  order  the  navy  to  foreign  ports  even 
at  the  risk  of  bringing  on  war,  and  he  may  move  the  army  to  foreign  bor- 
ders at  the  same  risk.  Except  in  cases  of  impeachment,  he  may  grant  re- 
prieves and  pardons  to  those  who  have  been  convicted  by  Federal  (not 
State)  courts,  and,  though  this  power  enables  him  to  reverse  completely  the 
action  of  a  Federal  court,  its  abuse  is  prevented  by  his  voluntary  reliance 
on  the  opinions  of  others  in  dealing  with  such  cases. 

The  Constitution  makes  it  mandatory  for  the  President  to  inform  Con- 
gress, from  time  to  time,  as  to  the  state  of  the  nation.  Such  messages,  fol- 
lowing a  precedent  set  by  Washington,  were  formally  written  papers  read 
before  the  legislative  body  by  a  clerk,  but  President  Wilson  broke  that 
precedent  in  delivering  his  first  message  by  reading  it  to  Congress  in  per- 
son. Congress  is  not  bound  to  carry  out  any  recommendations  which  his 
message  contains,  but  it  hears  them  with  respect  and,  when  the  majorities 
of  the  legislators  in  both  houses  of  Congress  are  of  the  same  party  as  the 
President,  it  usually  happens  that  his  recommendations  find  their  way  to 
the  statute-books.  On  the  other  hand,  a  bill  passed  by  Congress  does  not 
reach  the  statute-books  unless  signed  by  the  President,  and  by  the  power 
of  veto  he  wields  a  great  influence.  But  Congress  by  a  two-thirds  vote 
of  both  houses  can  make  a  bill  law  in  spite  of  his  veto.  A  bill  coming 
to  the  President  for  his  signature  becomes  law  without  his  signature  if  he 
fails  to  return  it  to  Congress  within  ten  days  after  receiving  it.  Sundays 
are  excepted  in  this  count. 

Certain  privileges  and  rights  belong  to  the  President;  no  court  can 
bring  him  before  it  for  any  offense,  no  crime  he  may  commit  can  cause  his 
arrest,  and,  even  when  impeached,  no  limitation  may  be  placed  upon  his 
liberty  until  sentence  has  been  pronounced  upon  him. 

How  the  President  Selects  His  Cabinet 

NOT  all  of  the  work  connected  with  the  executive  branch  of  the 
Government  can  be  attended  to  by  the  President  alone,  con- 
sequently it  is  necessary  to  maintain  certain  departments,  bureaus, 
and  commissions  to  carry  it  on.     These  departments  in  order  of  their  im- 

148 


GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

portance  are  those  of  State,  Treasury,  War,  Justice,  Post-Office,  Navy, 
Interior,  Agriculture,  Commerce,  and  Labor.  The  heads  of  these  depart- 
ments connected  with  the  executive  branch  form  the  President's  Cabinet, 
and,  though  the  Constitution  makes  no  provisions  for  these,  it  assumes  their 
existence.  The  Cabinet  officers  are  appointees  of  the  President  and  may 
be  removed  at  his  discretion.  Their  duties  are  laid  down  by  enactments 
of  Congress,  and  for  these  duties  they  are  responsible  to  the  President. 
They  enjoy  large  appointive  powers,  subject  to  the  operations  of  a  Civil 
Service  law;  they  may  promulgate  regulations,  which  must  be  consistent 
with  law;  and  they  decide  with  finality  on  cases  appealed  from  the  officials 
beneath  them.  On  the  other  hand,  they  must  prepare  annual  reports  on 
their  respective  department  for  Congress.  Their  other  relations  with  the 
legislative  branch  of  the  Government  are  less  definite.  They  cannot  be 
members  of  Congress,  but  there  is  no  Constitutional  provision  preventing 
them  from  sitting  and  speaking  there.  They  influence  legislative  action 
by  conferring  with  Congressional  committees  and  by  appearing  before  them, 
and  often  draft  in  their  entirety  bills  which  become  law. 

The  Cabinet  as  a  collective  body  has  no  existence  in  legal  enactment 
nor  has  it  any  powers  ordained  by  law.  Custom  regulates  it  to  a  remark- 
able degree.  Its  meetings  are  stated  and  are  ordered  by  the  President. 
Usually  they  are  secret,  even  to  the  extent  of  having  no  record  of  their 
transactions  placed  on  record.  The  President,  though  he  consults  his  Cab- 
inet for  advice  and  discusses  with  it  matters  of  importance,  is  in  no  way 
bound  to  observe  its  recommendations,  and  not  infrequently  acts  in  direct 
opposition  to  them. 

How  Members  of  the  House  and  Senators  Are  Elected 

THE  legislative  branch  of  the  Government  is  known  as  Congress  and 
consists  of  a  House  of  Representatives,  coming  from  the  various 
States  in  proportion  to  their  respective  populations,  and  a  Senate 
consisting  of  two  members  from  each  of  the  States.  The  members  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  must  be  men  who  have  been  citizens  of  the  coun- 
try for  at  least  seven  years ;  they  must  be  at  least  twenty-five  years  old  and 
must  reside  in  the  States  which  they  represent.  They  may  not  hold  other 
office  under  the  Federal  Government,  and  by  provision  of  State  laws  can- 
not, except  in  rare  instances,  hold  office  under  State  governments.  All  but 
this  last-named  qualification  are  to  be  found  in  the  Federal  Constitution; 
in  addition,  either  house  may  bar  members  on  certain  grounds. 

Each  member  of  the  lower  House  represents  a  single  Congressional 
district,  which  according  to  statute  must  be  "contiguous  and  compact  ter- 
ritory" ;  no  district  may  have  more  than  one  representative. 

149 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

Each  Representative  is  elected  for  a  term  of  two  years  and  receives 
a  salary  of  $7,500.  The  electoral  machinery  by  which  a  member  becomes 
a  nominee  and  an  incumbent  for  the  office  of  Representative  is  a  matter 
controlled  by  the  States,  but  their  prescriptions  may  be  altered  by  Congress. 
An  act  of  Congress  provides  that  they  must  be  elected  by  ballot  on  the 
Tuesday  following  the  first  Monday  in  November,  though  a  few  States 
are  exempted  from  this  provision  relating  to  the  date.  Both  houses  of  Con- 
gress through  committees  judge  of  the  elections  and  qualifications  of  their 
members  and  decide  the  issue  where  contested  elections  exist. 

The  Constitution  specifically  determines  the  number  of  Senators — two 
from  each  State,  and  no  State  is  to  be  deprived  of  equal  representation  in 
the  Senate  without  its  own  consent.  The  qualifications  of  Senators  are  a 
minimum  age  of  thirty  years,  citizenship  for  nine  years,  and  residence  in 
the  States  which  they  represent. 

According  to  the  Seventeenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution,  Sena- 
tors are  elected  by  the  electorates  in  each  State  instead  of  by  the  State  legis- 
lative bodies,  as  heretofore.  Each  Senator  is  elected  for  a  term  of  six 
years,  at  a  salary  of  $7,500  a  year;  and  the  Constitution  provides  that  one- 
third  of  the  total  number  of  Senators  shall  retire  every  two  years. 

The  Constitution  also  provides  for  certain  privileges  to  be  enjoyed 
by  members  of  Congress.  The  first  of  these  is  monetary  allowance  for  sec- 
retaries and  other  assistants  and  for  traveling  expenses  in  addition  to  their 
salaries.  They  are  free  from  arrest,  during  attendance  at  Washington,  for 
all  crimes  except  treason,  felony,  and  breach  of  the  peace.  They  may  at 
no  place  be  held  responsible  for  utterance  during  debate  in  the  Congres- 
sional chambers.  Though  the  elections  of  its  officers,  the  attendance  of 
its  members,  and  its  methods  of  procedure  are  matters  left  in  the  hands  of 
each  house,  the  Constitution  provides  that  the  Vice-President  shall  be  the 
presiding  officer  in  the  Senate,  that  each  house  must  keep  a  journal,  that  a 
two-third  vote  is  necessary  to  expel  a  member  from  either  house,  and  that 
record  of  vote,  under  certain  circumstances,  must  be  taken  by  roll-call.  A 
quorum  in  either  house  consists  of  a  majority  of  its  members. 

How  Congress  Makes  Our  Laws 

THE  Constitution  provides  that  Congress  meet  annually,  the  open- 
ing day  being  the  first  Monday  in  December.     There  are  two  an- 
nual sessions  of  each  house.     The  President  may  call  special  ses- 
sions at  his  own  discretion.     The  powers  of  Congress  are  only  those  which 
are  named  in  the  Constitution.     It  controls  the  matter  of  taxation  raised 
to  pay  the  debts  of  the  Federal  Government,  for  the  defense  of  the  coun- 
try and  for  its  welfare.     Armies  and  navies  may  be  raised  and  maintained 

150 


DEFENCE   OF   FOUT  MOULTRIE   IN  AMERICAN   REVOLUTION — Here  the   South   Carolinians 

repulsed  the  English  fleet  and  turned  back  the  Expedition  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton 

for   the   subjugation   of   the    South — June   ^'8,    177G. 


SIEGE  OF  CHARLESTON  IN  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION — This  historic  city  in   South  Carolina 

heroically  held  off  the  British  fleet  in  177<> — Forced  to  surrender  to  British, 

after  a  noble  defence,  in   1779,  it  was  pillaged. 


GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

by  it;  it  may  declare  war,  regulate  commerce,  establish  post-offices  and 
post-roads,  authorize  standards  of  weights  and  measures,  provide  for  pat- 
ents and  copyrights,  and  promulgate  uniform  laws  on  bankruptcy. 

Over  foreign  affairs  Congress  has  slight  control.  But  in  the  matter  of 
the  country's  monetary  system  its  control  is  exclusive.  It  has  limited  power 
in  defining  crimes  against  Federal  laws  and  providing  punishment  there- 
for; the  crime  of  treason  is  defined  unalterably  by  clauses  in  the  Constitu- 
tion. The  rules  and  regulations  for  the  government  of  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia, in  which  Washington  is  located,  and  for  the  government  of  terri- 
tories and  property  belonging  to  the  United  States  is  entirely  in  its  hands; 
it  has  the  right  to  admit  new  States  into  the  Union  and  can  make  what  ar- 
rangements it  sees  fit  for  the  process  of  admission.  Through  its  control 
of  finances  and  the  fixation  of  salaries  and  allowances  it  can  to  a  certain 
extent  wield  an  influence  over  the  executive  branch  of  the  Government  via 
the  executive  departments,  bureaus  and  commissions;  and  in  a  similar  man- 
ner it  wields  a  control  over  the  judiciary  branch.  Its  power  of  removing 
Federal  officers  extends  even  to  the  right  of  impeaching  the  President — a 
right  which  it  has  exercised  only  once.  When  the  President  is  impeached, 
the  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  is  the  presiding  officer,  and  the  Sen- 
ate acts  as  the  high  court.  The  Constitution  provides  that  impeachment 
may  be  brought  only  in  cases  of  treason,  bribery,  and  high  crimes  and  mis- 
demeanors. 

The  manner  in  which  Congress  goes  about  its  work  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  two  great  political  parties  seek  the  control  of  the  Government.  The 
party  having  a  majority  in  either  house  controls  the  actions  of  that  house, 
this  action  being  determined  by  a  caucus  of  the  members  of  the  party  in  a 
majority.  The  leading  member  of  the  party  in  majority  becomes  the  pre- 
siding officer  (Speaker)  of  the  Representatives,  and  the  leader  of  the  mi- 
nority becomes  the  floor  leader  of  the  party  in  opposition.  The  rules  of 
the  two  houses  differ. 

The  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  is  clothed  with  wide 
powers  in  order  that  he  may  prevent  "filibustering" — the  delaying  of  action 
by  the  party  in  opposition.  A  Representative  may  speak  no  more  than  one 
hour  in  a  given  debate  and  he  may  not  speak  more  than  once  during  that 
debate.  But  there  is  no  time  limit  on  the  speech-making  of  the  Senators. 

The  greater  part  of  the  business  in  each  house  is  attended  to  by  com- 
mittees. There  are  over  fifty  such  in  each  house ;  the  more  important  ones 
in  the  lower  house  are  those  of  Appropriations,  Commerce,  Finance,  For- 
eign Relations,  Interstate  Commerce,  Judiciary,  Military  Affairs,  Naval 
Affairs,  Public  Expenditures,  and  Rules.  In  the  Senate  the  more  impor- 
tant ones  are  those  of  Appropriations,  Banking  and  Currency,  Foreign  Af- 

153 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

fairs,  Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce,  Judiciary,  Military  Affairs,  Naval 
Affairs,  Rivers  and  Harbors,  Rules,  and  Ways  and  Means.  Important  and 
unimportant  bills  are  considered  by  these  committees  and  it  is  at  their  meet- 
ing that  the  real  legislative  work  of  the  nation  is  done.  When  a  member 
introduces  a  bill — and  this  is  the  privilege  of  every  member  in  either  house 
— it  is  referred  to  the  committee  which  would  naturally  be  interested  in  it. 
This  committee  may  pass  favorably  upon  it,  whereon  it  is  voted  on  by  the 
house  in  which  it  is  introduced.  The  committee  may  alter  it,  or  it  may 
"kill  it."  In  the  last  case  it  never  comes  up  for  debate  by  the  house. 

A  bill  favorably  reported  on  by  committee  and  passed  by  one  house 
then  goes  to  the  other  house  for  its  approval.  Here  it  again  goes  through 
the  hands  of  the  proper  committee  before  being  finally  considered  by  the 
house  itself.  The  bill  may  be  altered  by  the  second  house  or  it  may  be 
rejected  by  it.  Conferences  between  members  of  both  houses — extra- 
cameral  and  extra-legal  conferences — are  held  to  overcome  differences  in 
such  contingencies.  If  a  bill  is  passed  by  both  houses  it  then  goes  to  the 
Secretary  of  State  for  official  publication  and  then  to  the  President  for  his 
signature.  Receiving  that,  it  becomes  law. 

How  the  Judiciary  Branch  of  the  Government  Is  Operated 

THE  Constitution  provides  that  there  shall  be  a  Supreme  Court  and 
that  Congress  shall  create  such  inferior  courts  as  it  sees  fit.  Con- 
gress has  provided  for  the  following  arrangement  of  Federal 
Courts;  the  most  important  is  the  Supreme  Court,  consisting  of  a  Chief 
Justice  and  eight  Associate  Justices,  the  former  receiving  a  salary  of  $13,- 
ooo  and  each  of  the  latter  $12,500.  They  hold  office  for  life  and  during 
good  behavior.  Their  most  important  business  is  the  consideration  of  cases 
involving  constitutional  law  which  come  up  on  appeal  from  lower  Federal 
courts  or  from  State  courts  on  writs  of  error.  Each  case  must  be  tried  with 
at  least  six  of  the  Justices  present,  and  a  majority  is  needed  for  a  decision. 
The  Federal  Courts  of  next  importance  are  the  nine  Circuit  Courts  of 
Appeal,  one  for  each  of  the  nine  circuits  into  which  the  nation  is  divided. 
These  courts  consider  questions  appealed  from  lower  Federal  Courts  in  their 
respective  circuits,  unless  the  cases  involve  such  weighty  matters  as  capital 
punishment,  or  the  Constitution,  or  treaties  of  the  nation,  and  so  on,  in 
which  instances  appeal  goes  directly  to  the  Supreme  Court.  Below  the 
Circuit  Courts  of  Appeal  are  the  Circuit  Courts  having  jurisdiction  in  mat- 
ters involving  breach  of  the  Federal  law,  or  cases  between  citizens  of  dif- 
ferent States.  The  Federal  District  Court  is  the  lowest  United  States 
Court.  There  are  about  ninety  of  these  throughout  the  country  and  they 
vary  in  the  matter  of  territory  under  their  jurisdiction.  Thus  while  there 

154 


GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

is  but  one  Federal  District  Court  for  Colorado,  New  York  State  has  four. 
These  courts  consider  questions  appealed  from  lower  Federal  Courts  in  their 
punisliment — and  admiralty,  maritime,  and  bankruptcy  cases. 

The  Department  of  Justice,  headed  by  the  Attorney-General,  who  is 
a  member  of  the  Cabinet,  is  another  part  of  the  judiciary  branch  of  the 
Government.  Members  of  this  Department  act  as  the  attorneys  for  the 
Government  where  it  is  involved  in  legal  cases  and  also  enforce  regard  for 
federal  law  through  bringing  cases  of  disregard  before  the  proper  Federal 
Courts.  The  Government  is  represented  by  an  attorney,  who  is  a  member 
of  the  Department  of  Justice,  in  each  of  the  Federal  judicial  districts.  In 
each  district  there  is  also  a  Federal  marshal  who  makes  arrests.  Both  offi- 
cers are  appointees  of  the  President. 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  Federal  Courts  covers  cases  in  which  the  United 
States  takes  part,  cases  involving  one  or  more  States  as  parties  against  other 
States  or  citizens  without  the  jurisdiction  of  said  States,  cases  involving 
questions  concerning  the  Constitution,  admiralty  and  maritime  enterprise. 
The  Federal  Courts  also  have  the  power  of  issuing  the  writs  of  habeas 
corpus,  mandamus,  and  injunction,  wherever  Federal  law  enters  into  a 
case.  Where  the  constitutionality  of  either  Federal  and  State  laws  is  in- 
volved, the  Federal  Courts  also  have  jurisdiction. 

What  the  Government  Guarantees  the  People 

WE  have  considered  the  machinery  of  the  Federal  Government; 
now  we  may  observe  its  operations.  The  Constitution  may  be 
amended  in  four  ways.  Such  a  proposition  may  arise  in  Con- 
gress by  action  of  two-thirds  of  both  houses  and  may  be  ratified  by  the  leg- 
islatures of  three-fourths  of  the  States.  It  may  arise  in  the  same  manner 
and  be  ratified  by  conventions  in  three-fourths  of  the  States.  It  may  arise 
upon  application  of  the  legislatures  in  two-thirds  of  the  States,  whereupon 
Congress  must  call  a  national  convention  to  draft  it,  after  which  it  must 
receive  the  ratification  of  conventions  in  three-fourths  of  the  States.  Or, 
having  had  the  same  origin  and  having  been  drafted  by  a  similar  national 
convention  it  may  be  ratified  by  the  legislatures  in  three-fourths  of  the 
States. 

The  rights  guaranteed  to  the  individual  against  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment are  found  in  clauses  in  the  Constitution  which  provide  that  the  Fed- 
eral Government  may  not  establish  a  religion  or  interfere  with  free- 
dom of  worship.  The  Federal  Government  cannot  interfere  with  free- 
dom of  speech  or  of  the  press,  or  the  right  to  assemble  peaceably  and  of  pe- 
tition to  Government.  As  to  the  punishment  of  persons  it  is  provided  that 
treason  should  be  such  an  act  as  is  defined  in  the  Constitution  only,  no  bill 

155 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

of  attainder  or  ex-ppst  facto  law  is  valid,  arrest  by  general  warrant  is  pro- 
hibited, indictment  by  grand  jury  and  trial  by  jury  are  guaranteed,  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus  cannot  be  suspended  (except  in  case  of  rebellion  or  in- 
vasion), excessive  bail  is  not  to  be  levied,  and  in  criminal  proceedings  due 
process  of  law  must  be  regarded. 

As  to  the  property  rights,  the  Constitution  provides  that  the  Federal 
Government  may  not  define  property;  and,  though  the  right  of  eminent 
domain  is  to  be  held  by  the  Federal  Government  there  are  restrictions  as  to 
its  actions  against  private  property.  These  provide  for  uniformity  of  im- 
posts throughout  the  country  and  against  the  taxation  of  goods  exported 
from  any  State. 

It  will  be  noted  that  all  of  these  rights  guaranteed  to  the  individual 
are  held  against  the  Federal  Government;  the  Constitution  guarantees  none 
against  the  State  Governments.  The  rights  of  person  against  the  latter 
are  to  be  found  in  their  respective  constitutions  and  will  be  dealt  with 
later. 

How  Our  Foreign  Affairs  Are  Conducted 

BETWEEN  the  President  and  foreign  countries  the  Department  of 
State  acts  as  the  functionary  organ.     No  official  communication 
may  go  to  a  foreign  State  or  be  received  from  one  without  going 
through  that  department.     The  ambassadors,  consuls,  and  other  officials 
of  the  United  States  abroad  are  officers  of  the  State  Department.     But 
the  treaty-making  power  is  in  the  hands  of  the  President  and  the  Senate; 
yet  even  here  the  State  Department  is  the  agency  through  which  negotia- 
tions are  carried  on. 

How  We  Maintain  Our  Army  and  Navy 

NATIONAL  defense  is  primarily  the  business  of  the  Departments  of 
War  and  of  the  Navy.  The  regular  army  is  limited  by  law  to 
100,000  men;  in  each  of  the  States  there  are  regiments  of  or- 
ganized militia — trained  citizens — -at  the  disposal  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment. In  times  of  war  it  is  customary  to  augment  these  forces  by  calling 
for  volunteers.  But  by  a  law  passed  in  1908  every  male  American  citizen 
between  the  age  of  eighteen  and  forty-five  is  a  member  of  the  Reserve 
Militia.  The  navy  of  the  United  States  has  been  created  by  Congress 
under  specific  clauses  to  be  found  in  the  Constitution.  Only  citizens  of  the 
country  may  enlist  in  it.  The  conduct  of  war  is  a  matter  which  varies 
with  circumstances.  The  President,  though  he  is  Commander-in-Chief  of 
both  branches  of  the  service,  does  not  actually  take  the  field ;  the  manage- 
ment of  campaigns  is  left  to  experts  in  the  proper  departments.  But  the 

156 


BATTLE  OF  STONY  POINT  IN  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION — It  was  here  that  General  Anthony 
\\nyne   stormed   the   fort   upon   a    rocky    promontory   overlooking   the   Hudson   on   July    15, 
1770— The  Americans  had  been  forced  to  abandon  it — It  was  now  occupied  by  the 
British — Washington    determined    on    its    recapture — The    attack    was    made 
about  midnight  across  the  marsh  leading  to  the  fort — The  Americans 
did  not  fire  but  charged  with  bayonets — Wayne  was  wounded  in 
the  head  and  was  carried  into  the  fort — The  British  surrend- 
ered and  the  garrison  of  540  men  were  taken  prisoners, 


GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

money  necessary  to  conduct  war  is  controlled  by  Congress.  As  the  head 
of  the  country's  militant  forces,  the  President  takes  on  a  military  charac- 
ter and  under  it  may  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  (though  only  in 
times  of  war)  and  overrule  the  acts  of  officers  or  of  courts-martial,  and 
may  appoint  or  remove  even  admirals  and  generals. 

How  We  Finance  the  American  Nation 

CONGRESS,  according  to  the  Constitution,  has  control  over  the  na- 
tion's finances.  It  may  raise  taxes,  making  them  uniform 
throughout  the  country,  causing  direct  taxation  to  be  apportioned 
among  the  States  according  to  their  respective  populations ;  it  may  not  tax 
the  exports  from  any  State  nor  can  it  tax  the  instrumentalities  or  proper- 
ties of  any  State.  The  sixteenth  amendment  to  the  Constitution  gives  Con- 
gress the  right  to  levy  an  income-tax.  All  bills  for  raising  revenue  must 
originate  in  the  House  of  Representatives  as  provided  by  the  Constitution ; 
but  often  the  Senate,  when  it  comes  to  consider  these  before  they  become 
law,  makes  radical  changes  in  them.  The  Department  of  the  Treasury  is 
the  agency  which  is  entrusted  with  the  collection  of  Federal  revenue  and 
does  so  through  one  branch  which  is  responsible  for  customs  duties  and 
another  which  is  responsible  for  internal  revenue — taxes  on  liquor,  cigars, 
playing-cards,  and  so  on. 

Congress  has  the  right  to  issue  both  specie  and  paper  money,  to  regu- 
late the  value  of  money  and  make  loans.  No  State  may  coin  money,  ten- 
der payment  of  debt  in  anything  but  gold  and  silver  currency  of  the  United 
States,  or  authorize  bills  of  credit.  Congress  has  arranged  a  system  of 
national  banks  for  the  sake  of  elasticity  of  the  currency  and  has  during  the 
present  administration  provided  for  a  Federal  Reserve  Bank.  National 
banks,  after  meeting  certain  requirements  laid  down  by  law,  may  issue  bank 
notes,  through  the  comptroller. 

How  We  Control  American  Commerce  and  Trade 

CONGRESS  regulates  the  commerce  between  this  country  and  for- 
eign countries  and  that  which  passes  between  States.     Through 
the  latter  power  it  controls  railways  and  common  carriers  operat- 
ing between  States,  corporations  doing  business  in  more  than  one  State,  and 
such  matters  as  the  purity  of  food,  the  purity  of  drugs,  and  the  contents  of 
publications  which  pass  from  one  State  to  another.     The  matter  of  immi- 
gration also  comes  into  its  hands,  as  does  the  matter  of  tariffs.     It  may 
pass  such  laws  as  it  sees  fit,  provided  they  do  not  transgress  the  Constitu- 
tion, in  regulating  these.     The  business  of  handling  these  matters  comes  un- 
der the  jurisdiction  of  the  Departments  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  these  de- 

159 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

partments  being  also  responsible  for  the  diffusing  of  information  on  sub- 
jects related  to  labor.  They  essay,  also,  to  adjust  the  differences  between 
parties  involved  in  strikes  that  affect  interstate  and  foreign  commerce  and 
trade. 

How  We  Operate  the  Post-Office  System 

SPECIFIC  clauses  in  the  Constitution  give  Congress  the  right  to  es- 
tablish post-offices  and  post-roads,  and  through  the  powers  thus  con- 
ferred it  has  built  up  our  postal  service.     The  business  of  this  serv- 
ice is  a  matter  in  the  hands  of  the  Post-Office  Department.     In  addition  to 
handling  mail  such  as  letters  and  post-cards,  it  handles  parcels,  within 
certain  physical  limits,  and  issues  money-orders  for  use  both  within  the  bor- 
ders of  the  country  and  to  foreign  countries.     A  recent  law  has  created 
postal  savings  banks. 

How  We  Protect  tHe  American  Territories 

TERRITORY  which  is  not  part  of  a  State  and  which  is  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Federal  Government  is  known  as  Federal  Ter- 
ritory.    It  is  treated  as  property  of  the  United  States  and  is  gov- 
erned under  clauses  in  the  Constitution  which  give  Congress  the  right  to 
dispose  of  such  territory  and  property  and  to  make  the  rule  necessary  for 
regulating  it.     At  present  all  land  actually  on  the  Continent  of  North 
America,  except  the  District  of  Columbia  and  Alaska,  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Federal  Government  is  part  of  one  State  or  another;  but  Alaska, 
the  Hawaiian  Islands,  the  Philippine  Islands,  Porto  Rico,  the  Panama 
Canal  Zone  and  certain  insular  possessions  are  Territories. 

The  Hawaiians  have  a  governor  and  secretary  appointed  by  the  Presi- 
dent and  the  Senate;  all  persons  who  were  there  citizens  of  the  republic 
of  Hawaii  in  1898,  before  annexation  to  the  United  States,  enjoy  the  citi- 
zenship of  the  latter;  the  Islands  have  a  legislature  consisting  of  two 
houses,  the  members  of  each  being  elected  by  popular  vote,  the  voters  being 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  residents,  and  at  least  twenty-one  years  old. 

The  citizens  of  Porto  Rico  are  citizens  of  that  island  only  and  do  not 
possess  the  citizenship  of  the  United  States ;  it  has  an  appointed  governor, 
serving  a  term  of  four  years,  and  six  appointed  executive  officers,  also  ap- 
pointed by  the  President  and  the  Senate.  These  six,  together  with  five 
citizens  of  good  repute  appointed  by  the  President  and  the  Senate,  form  the 
upper  house  of  its  legislative  body;  the  lower  house  consists  of  thirty-five 
members  who  are  native  inhabitants  of  the  island,  elected  by  the  popular 
vote  of  the  adult  males  in  the  island  who  satisfy  certain  residence  require- 
ments. 

160 


GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

The  Philippine  Islands  are  governed  according  to  an  Organic  Act 
passed  by  Congress  in  1902.  The  executive  government  is  in  the  hands 
of  a  commission  of  nine  men,  including  the  governor.  All  of  them — five 
Americans  and  four  native  Filipinos — are  appointed  by  the  President  and 
the  Senate.  The  Philippine  Commission  is  the  upper  house  of  the  legis- 
lative body,  and  voters  in  all  but  certain  parts  of  the  islands  elect  the  mem- 
bers of  the  lower  house,  these  voters  being  men  who  meet  certain  literacy 
tests,  tests  concerning  payment  of  taxes  or  owning  of  property,  and  a  taking 
an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States. 

Alaska  is  governed  by  an  executive  appointed  by  the  President  and 
the  Senate.  He  enjoys  a  four-year  term,  sees  that  the  laws  of  Congress 
are  obeyed,  commands  the  militia,  and  makes  an  annual  report  to  the  Presi- 
dent. Congress  has  passed  codes  of  civil  and  criminal  procedure  for  use  in 
Alaska. 

The  Panama  Canal  Zone  has  for  an  executive  official  the  chairman  of 
the  Isthmian  Canal  Commission,  an  appointee  of  the  President,  who  as- 
signs his  authority  to  one  of  the  commissioners.  The  commission,  by  au- 
thority granted  by  the  President,  is  the  legislative  organ  for  that  territory; 
there  are  seven  commissioners,  appointees  of  the  President. 

The  District  of  Columbia,  in  which  the  city  of  Washington  is  situated, 
has  for  an  executive  organ  a  board  of  three  commissioners,  two  of  whom 
are  civilians  and  the  third  a  military  officer.  All  three  are  appointees  of  the 
President  and  govern  the  city  with  ordinances. 

How  We  Operate  Our  State  Governments 

THE  State  Governments  operate  in  spheres  which  are  defined  by  the 
Constitution.  Their  taxing  powers  are  limited;  they  cannot  tax 
exports  or  imports,  Federal  property  or  instrumentalities;  they 
cannot  interfere  with  interstate  commerce  or  exercise  any  control  over  the 
monetary  system.  No  State  may  pass  a  bill  of  attainder  or  pass  a  law 
divesting  itself  of  its  obligation  of  contracts.  No  State  may  in  any  way 
curtail  the  privileges  of  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  or  deprive  them, 
without  court  trial,  of  the  rights  of  life,  liberty,  and  pursuit  of  happiness. 
All  of  these  inhibitions  are  provided  for  by  the  Federal  Constitution.  In 
making  a  study  of  the  State  Governments,  it  is  manifestly  impossible  to 
study  each  separately ;  all  that  can  be  done  here  is  to  indicate  what  are  the 
common  principles  which  are  to  be  found  in  them. 

The  fundamental  law  in  each  State  is  its  constitution,  this  document 
usually  having  six  parts,  the  first  being  a  bill  of  rights,  the  second  being 
a  framework  of  the  State  Government  with  its  limitations  set  forth,  the 
third  dealing  with  State  finances,  the  fourth  providing  for  economic  welfare, 

161 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

the  fifth  dealing  with  educational  and  social  welfare,  the  sixth  dealing  with 
the  methods  for  amending  the  State's  Constitution. 

The  part  dealing  with  the  bill  of  rights  usually  provides  that  no  citi- 
zen is  to  be  interfered  with  in  the  matter  of  his  religion,  freedom  of  speech, 
of  the  press;  trial  by  jury,  indictment  by  grand  jury  and  similar  famous 
rights  are  guaranteed.  The  part  dealing  with  the  framework  of  the  State's 
Government  provides,  in  every  instance,  for  an  executive,  a  legislative,  and 
a  judiciary  branch  of  government. 

Every  one  of  the  States  has  at  the  head  of  its  executive  branch  a  popu- 
larly elected  governor,  excepting  Mississippi,  whose  governor  is  elected  by 
an  indirect  method.  The  terms  of  these  governors  vary  from  one  to  four 
years,  and  the  qualifications  which  they  must  have  involve  minimum  age 
limitations,  restrictions  as  to  the  number  of  terms  one  man  may  enjoy,  and 
so  on.  Their  salaries  range  from  $2,500  to  $12,000.  Usually  they  have 
a  wide  appointing  power,  commanding  State  militia,  have  extensive  par- 
doning powers,  and,  in  all  instances,  are  responsible  for  the  enforcement  of 
the  State  laws.  In  every  State  except  North  Carolina  the  governor  has  the 
power  of  veto.  Most  of  the  States  have  as  part  of  their  administrative 
machinery  a  lieutenant-governor,  who  is  the  legal  successor  to  the  governor 
should  the  latter's  term  end  prematurely;  a  secretary  of  state  who  has  in 
charge  the  State's  archives,  keeps  election  records  and  supervises  elections; 
a  treasurer,  who  has  charge  of  the  State's  moneys;  an  auditor,  who  has 
charge  of  the  State's  books,  and  an  attorney-general,  who  acts  as  the  State's 
counsel  when  it  is  a  defendant  and  who  prosecutes  those  who  transgress 
the  State's  law.  In  addition,  most  of  the  States  have  an  extensive  list  of 
minor  officers  of  administration. 

The  legislative  branch  of  the  State  Governments  is  in  all  cases  a  bi- 
cameral body,  known  sometimes  as  the  legislative  assembly,  sometimes  as 
the  general  assembly  and  sometimes  by  names  of  less  general  application. 
Members  of  both  houses  are  chosen  by  popular  vote;  the  members  meet  a 
variety  of  qualifications  as  to  age,  residence,  and  so  on;  their  terms  vary 
from  State  to  State,  as  their  salaries. 

The  business  of  the  State  legislatures  is  to  promulgate  the  laws  by 
which  the  State  is  governed,  always  with  the  understanding  that  no  law 
it  may  pass  is  valid  if  it  comes  into  conflict  with  a  provision  in  either  the 
State  Constitution  or  the  Federal  Constitution.  In  organization  and  pro- 
cedure they  follow  the  general  lines  of  the  Federal  legislature  and  are  to  a 
great  extent  copies  of  it. 

The  States'  judicial  systems  are  also  broad  imitations  of  that  of  the 
Federal  Government,  with  supreme  courts  at  the  head  of  the  systems  and 
beneath  them  courts  of  appeal,  circuit  courts,  district  courts,  and  county 

162 


BATTLE  AT  PRINCETON  IN  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION— Here  Washington  surprised  the  British 

on  January  3,   1777,  with   a  deadly   bayonet  charge — Frederick   the  Great,   of 

Prussia     declared  it  a  brilliant  military  achievement. 


BATTLE  OF  GERMANTOWN  IN  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION— Hen,  in  the  confusion  pf 
fog  at  sunrise  on   October  4,    1777.   the   Americans   met   the   British   and  were 
forced  to  retreat — Washington  s  plans  were  upset  and  war  prolonged. 


courts.  It  is  the  State  Court  that  the  cases  involving  breaches  of  State  law 
or  State  jurisdiction  must  go.  There  is  a  great  variety  in  the  way  in  which 
judges  come  to  their  positions,  their  terms,  their  salaries,  and  their  removal. 
The  two  great  sources  of  State  law  are  the  statutes  enacted  by  the  State 
legislatures  and  the  English  common  law. 

How  We  Manage  Our  Towns  and  Cities 

FR  purposes  of  local  government,  the  States  are  divided  into  counties 
^parishes  in  Louisiana),  and  these  in  turn  are  divided  into  towns 
and  townships.     The  chief  officers  in  the  counties  are  the  sheriff, 
the  prosecuting  attorney  for  that  county  for  the  State,  and  the  judges  whose 
jurisdiction  is  limited  to  a  county.     Towns  and  townships  are  governed 
by  boards  of  one  kind  or  another. 

Cities  in  the  United  States  are  without  exception  amenable  to  the  law 
of  the  States  in  which  they  are  found  and  enjoy  a  varying  amount  of  lib- 
erty in  dealing  with  their  own  problems.  The  most  common  form  of  mu" 
nicipal  government  is  that  in  which  the  executive  officer  is  a  mayor.  Lately, 
government  of  cities  ruled  by  commissions  has  been  coming  into  vogue.  As 
further  parts  of  the  executive  arm  of  municipal  government  there  are  boards 
of  health,  of  education,  finance,  departments  of  police,  fire,  water,  and 
so  on. 

What  corresponds  to  the  legislative  branch  of  government  in  the  Fed- 
eral and  State  Governments  is,  in  the  cities,  known  as  the  board  of  alder- 
men or  city  council.  Their  promulgations  are  known  as  ordinances  and  may 
not  conflict  either  with  State  or  Federal  law.  They  may  raise  revenue 
through  issuing  licenses  or  levies  on  property;  they  may  provide  for  mu- 
nicipal enterprises  of  various  kinds,  and  in  so  doing  may  contract  loans  and 
issue  city  bonds.  The  municipality  is,  in  fact,  a  corporation. 

Thus,  in  this  brief  survey,  we  have  observed  the  operation  of  our  form 
of  government.  It  is  a  simple,  straightforward  business  proposition  in 
which  our  success  or  failure  depends  largely  upon  the  character  and  ability 
of  the  men  whom  the  people  elect  to  public  office — the  servants  of  the  peo- 
ple. These  offices  should  be  filled  by  men  of  integrity  and  capacity,  using 
the  same  discrimination  that  is  ordinarily  used  in  appointing  managers  for 
any  business  enterprise — as  the  operation  of  government  is  the  greatest  of 
all  business  propositions. 

The  American  Government  has  many  problems  to  solve;  it  has  met 
many  crises  and  has  stood  the  test;  it  will  meet  many  new  crises  in  our  eco- 
nomic development  and  social  progress.  Let  us  all  stand  loyally,  shoulder 
to  shoulder,  as  equal  shareholders  in  this  great  co-operative  enterprise, 
laboring  indefatigably  for  the  success  and  prosperity  of  the  nation. 

165 


PART  II  CHAPTER  IV 


GREAT  AMERICAN  WARS 


This  hand,  to  tyrants  ever  sworn  the  foe, 
For  freedom  only  deals  the  deadly  blow; 
Then  sheathes  in  calm  repose  the  deadly  blade, 
For  gentle  peace  in  freedom's  hallowed  shade. 
—  John  Quincy  Adams. 


""W  "W"  "TAR — that  mad  game  the  world  so  loves  to  play"  is  indeed 
%  M  /  a  survival  of  the  medieval  dictum  that  "might  makes 

W  V  right."  When  Reason  is  overthrown,  men  and  nations 
abandon  all  social  and  economic  principles  and  fall  back 
to  their  biological  instincts — the  survival  of  the  fittest  by  brute  force  and 
cunning.  War,  therefore,  is  the  court  of  arbitrament  when  Reason  breaks 
down.  It  is  the  constantly  recurring  animal  instinct  in  social  psychology; 
it  is  an  economic  eruption. 

But,  with  all  its  hideous  tortures  and  glories,  war  has  been  a  purga- 
tive with  which  society  has  cleansed  itself — by  which  it  has  purified  itself 
with  fire.  Primitive  though  it  be,  it  is  the  process  through  which  civiliza- 
tion has  forged  its  way  and  from  which  human  freedom  has  been  born. 
The  chains  of  bondage  have  been  struck  from  the  human  race  largely  by 
fire  and  sword.  Mankind  has  attained  liberty  by  rising  in  its  physical 
might  and  taking  it ;  he  has  had  to  break  down  tyranny  by  physical  force. 
And,  strange  as  the  paradox  may  seem,  the  greatest  despot  that  ever  held 
the  human  race  enslaved  in  its  hideous  clutches  is  this  same  overmastering 
system  of  war.  It  will  be  the  last  of  the  despots  to  be  dethroned,  but  that 
time  will  come  and  is  coming  rapidly  when  war  will  be  abolished  as  the 
last  vestige  of  savagery,  and  then  at  last  reason  will  rule. 

The  American  people  are  not  a  warring  people ;  they  have  progressed 
beyond  the  gluttony  of  war — but  they  do  not  fail  to  realize  that,  while 
war  exists  as  a  peril  to  mankind,  it  is  the  rule  of  reason  that  all  nations 
should  be  prepared  to  defend  themselves  against  it.  As  Washington  said : 
"To  be  prepared  for  war  is  one  of  the  most  effectual  ways  of  preserving 
peace."  The  time  will  come,  as  Hugo  predicted,  when  a  cannon  will  be 
a  curiosity  and  arms  will  rust — when  the  world  will  wonder  how  such 
things  ever  could  have  been.  But  until  this  time  nations  must  be  ready 
to  strike  down  the  destroyer,  while  expending  their  efforts  and  genius  to 
devise  a  new  medium  for  arbitrament — while  planning  for  the  universal 
abolishment  of  war.  The  American  people  are  a  peace-loving  people; 

167 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

they  are  leading  the  world  to-day  in  solving  the  greatest  problem  that 
besets  the  human  race — emancipation  from  war.  Mankind  learns  only 
by  experience  and  experiment — war  will  cease  only  when  man  discovers 
that  its  cost  is  greater  than  its  gains. 

American  civilization,  however,  has  not  been  born  without  the  strug- 
gles and  pains  of  war.  It  has  passed  through  the  crucible,  under  the 
flaming  sword.  Let  it  be  said,  however,  with  emphasis,  that  it  has  made 
its  greatest  progress  through  peace — by  its  inventive  genius,  which  has 
revolutionized  and  reconstructed  the  modern  world — despite  war.  (See 
chapter  on  Great  American  Inventions.) 

War's  victories  consist  almost  wholly  of  political  liberties  and  terri- 
torial expansion — purchased  at  an  incalculable  cost  of  human  lives  and 
enormous  economic  losses.  The  first  explorers  fought  their  way  across  the 
American  continent.  The  first  wars  were  wars  of  conquest — the  subjec- 
tion of  savagery  to  civilization  in  order  to  avoid  a  reversal  of  the  situation ; 
it  was  meeting  primitive  instincts  with  other  primitive  instincts.  The 
Spanish  adventurers  waged  war  on  barbarity  with  a  cruelty  that  was  bar- 
barity itself.  The  clashes  between  the  English  colonists  and  the  Indians 
were  in  self-defense  from  both  viewpoints — each  feared  extermination 
by  the  other.  The  French  and  Indian  wars  were  fought  to  decide  the  mas- 
tery of  a  continent. 

The  American  Revolution — War  For  Independence 

WAR  for  American  Independence — this  is  the  first  American  war 
— that  is  a  war  of  American  nationality.  The  American  Revo- 
lution was  an  economic  explosion — a  social  evolution — the 
birth-throes  of  a  gigantic  idealism  which  gave  conception  to  a  new  nation 
and  a  new  era.  Like  an  eruption  of  Mount  Vesuvius,  there  was  a  so- 
cial eruption  on  the  Western  Hemisphere  in  which  was  emitted  the  burn- 
ing lava  of  democracy — later  to  coagulate  into  a  solid  substance  that  was 
to  form  the  foundations  of  the  American  republic.  This  was  the  war 
for  American  Independence,  the  economic  causes  of  which  are  set  forth 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  with  words  that  have  since  inspired 
the  whole  world  to  the  love  of  liberty.  This  war  was  not  so  much  a 
revolt  against  despotic  monarchy,  however,  as  it  was  an  outburst  of  the 
dynamic  forces  of  democracy,  which  have  found  an  outlet  for  expression 
on  the  American  continent. 

Let  us  survey  the  chief  military  facts  associated  with  this  war.  Here 
we  see  an  army  composed  largely  of  peace-loving  farmers  and  mechanics, 
who,  upon  refusing  to  pay  the  taxes  demanded  by  the  British  monarchy, 
were  forced  to  defend  themselves  against  invasion  by  the  soldiers  of  the 

168 


FIRST   I5ATTLK   OF   THE   AMERICAN   REVOLUTION" — Here  we  see  the   patriots  opposing  the 

British  as  they  ma  relied  from  Lexington  to  Concord — Paul   Revere  carried  the  warning  on 

his  historic  ride— The  first  battle  was  fought  at  Lexington,  on  April  19,  1775. 


FIRST  STEPS  IN  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION — Here  we  see  the  colonists  fortifying  Breed's 
Hill  on  the  night  »t"  .lunr   If,.   177.",     The  patriots  worked  incessantly  all  night — At  day- 
light   the   British    ships    in    the    river   opened    fire.       The    cannonading    aroiusX>d 
the  sleepers  in  Boston  and  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill  was  fought. 


WASHINGTON  CROSSING  THE  DELAWARE— It  is  early   morning  December  25,   177G— The  river  is  packed 

•with  floating  ice — Washington  stands  in  the  bow,   leading  his   army   to  surprise  the   British 

intrenched    at    Trenton — Behind    biru  two  soldiers  hold  an  American  flag. 


depicts  one  of  the 


AM<M  s    I'AIMIM;    IX    THE   METROPOLITAN   MUSEUM— This  historic  canvas  which  de, 

most  heroic  incidents  in  the  American  Revolution,  was  painted  in  1851  by  Kmanuel 'Leutze 
(1810-1868) — It  was  presented  to  the  Metropolitan  by  John  S.  Kennedy. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  WARS 

king.  It  was  the  culmination  of  a  long  series  of  anti-climaxes  in  which 
the  monarchy,  failing  to  comprehend  the  spirit  of  democracy,  sought  to 
maintain  its  integrity  by  discipline  and  force.  The  beginnings  of  the 
American  armies  were  the  Minute  Men  of  New  England.  The  troubles 
between  the  English  military  governor  of  Massachusetts  and  the  people 
of  that  State  were  fast  approaching  a  crisis,  in  the  spring  of  1775.  A 
Committee  of  Safety  (note  the  word  and  make  your  own  economic  deduc- 
tion) at  Cambridge  ordered  that  a  military  force  be  formed;  this  force 
was  to  consist  of  2,ooo  men,  who  at  a  minute's  notice  were  to  leave  the 
occupations  of  peace  and  become  soldiers.  These  men  drilled  to  prepare 
themselves  for  an  emergency,  and  munitions  for  their  use  were  stored. 

The  British  governor,  hearing  of  these  activities,  decided  to  assert  the 
power  of  the  monarchy  against  insurrection  and  sent  a  force  to  Concord, 
Massachusetts,  where  the  munitions  were  hidden.  But  he  was  anticipated 
by  the  people.  On  the  night  of  April  18,  1775,  the  British  troops  began 
the  twenty-mile  march  from  Boston  to  Concord.  The  Minute  Men  were 
called  to  the  defense  of  their  property — and  the  two  forces  met  in  conflict 
at  the  little  village  of  Lexington.  Here  the  first  battle  of  the  American 
Revolution  was  fought — and  won  by  the  defenders.  As  soon  as  the  news 
reached  Vermont,  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  attacked  and  captured  Fort 
Ticonderoga,  May  10,  1775. 

The  first  real  American  army  was  now  to  come  into  existence.  The 
Continental  Congress  met  in  June,  1775,  and  designated  the  Boston  forces 
as  the  Continental  Army  of  America.  George  Washington  was  appointed 
to  take  supreme  command.  He  received  his  commission  on  June  i6th, 
and,  while  on  the  way  to  join  the  army,  he  learned  that  the  Battle  of 
Bunker  Hill  had  been  fought  (June  17,  1775).  Bunker  Hill  and  Breed's 
Hill,  two  mounds  which  overlook  Boston,  near  Charlestown,  were  of 
strategic  importance,  and  the  Americans  knew  that  the  British  General 
Gage  intended  to  fortify  them.  A  force  sent  to  occupy  Bunker's  Hill 
went  by  mistake  to  Breed's  Hill  and  there  threw  up  breastworks.  The 
British  soldiers  made  the  attack.  In  the  first  charge  the  Britishers  were 
driven  back,  for  the  Americans,  waiting  till  "they  could  see  the  whites  of 
the  enemies'  eyes,"  withheld  their  fire  till  the  enemy  was  right  on  top  of 
them.  A  second  charge  by  the  British  was  successful,  and  the  Americans 
retired. 

It  was  on  July  3,  1775,  that  Washington  arrived  at  Boston  and  took 
charge  of  the  American  forces.  His  troops  were  without  discipline,  they 
were  without  uniforms,  without  sufficient  powder,  and  their  guns  were  of 
every  description — but  they  were  aflame  with  an  ideal.  For  eight  months, 
Washington  kept  the  British  locked  up  in  Boston  with  this  force,  and  in 

173 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

that  time  he  organized  a  strong  volunteer  army  under  his  inspiring  leader- 
ship. In  the  meantime,  to  forestall  an  attack  from  Canada,  Congress  sent 
two  forces  there;  one  under  Benedict  Arnold,  and  another  under  Richard 
Montgomery.  Though  Quebec  was  entered  and  Montreal  was  captured, 
the  American  armies  could  not  hold  their  positions  and  retired  again  to 
American  territory. 

In  the  spring  of  1776,  Washington  began  active  campaigning 
against  the  British  force  in  Boston.  On  March  17,  he  took  Dorchester 
Heights,  south  of  Boston.  The  British  General  Howe,  deeming  it  wiser 
to  retreat  from  Boston  than  to  give  battle,  evacuated  the  town  and  sailed 
with  his  army  to  Halifax.  Washington,  under  the  belief  that  New  York 
would  be  the  next  point  of  British  attack,  moved  to  that  city  and  encamped 
on  Brooklyn  Heights.  General  Howe,  with  25,000  troops,  came  to  Staten 
Island,  where  he  established  a  camp.  He  attempted  to  take  the  American 
force  at  Brooklyn  Heights  in  August,  1776,  but  Washington  ingeniously 
retreated  from  there,  crossed  over  to  Manhattan,  and  with  the  English 
at  his  heels  moved  north  to  White  Plains,  where  he  finally  crossed  the 
Hudson  to  retreat  to  Newark,  New  Jersey. 

Here  we  witness  the  first  discord  which  threatened  to  disrupt  the 
American  cause.  Washington  had  left  General  Charles  Lee  in  New  York 
with  a  small  force  of  men;  he  now  ordered  Lee  to  join  him  at  Hackensack, 
New  Jersey.  But  Lee  became  a  victim  of  his  own  jealousy  and  mutinously 
refused  to  join  Washington,  who  was  then  forced  to  start  a  retreat  with 
Philadelphia  as  its  objective.  The  British  General  Cornwallis  took  ad- 
vantage of  the  situation  and  followed  him  closely.  Lee  finally  did  cross 
the  Hudson  and  was  captured  by  the  British,  but  his  force  escaped,  and, 
under  the  command  of  General  Sullivan,  joined  the  commander-in-chief 
just  in  time  for  an  attack  against  the  Hessians,  mercenaries  of  the  British, 
in  the  battle  of  Trenton,  on  Christmas  night,  1776,  when  1,000  Hessians 
were  made  prisoners.  On  came  Cornwallis,  driving  the  Americans  into  a 
critical  position  between  his  own  forces  and  the  Delaware  River.  But 
on  the  night  of  January  2,  1777,  Washington  slipped  around  Cornwallis' 
army  and  routed  three  regiments  by  a  rear  attack.  Cornwallis  then  retired 
to  New  Brunswick,  and  Washington  to  Morristown,  New  Jersey.  Both 
armies  encamped  for  the  winter. 

With  the  spring,  activities  were  resumed.  The  British  with  a  fleet 
made  a  feint  as  though  they  were  to  take  Philadelphia.  Washington,  who 
had  already  made  a  march  into  New  York  from  Morristown,  found 
it  urgent  to  change  his  plans  and  march  south.  A  British  force  under 
Howe  was  landed  on  the  shores  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  Washington  moved 
on  to  Wilmington,  Delaware.  As  the  British  began  a  move  against 

174 


(GREAT  AMERICAN  WARS 

Washington,  he  fell  back  from  Wilmington  to  Chadds  Ford,  on  the  Brandy- 
wine,  and  there,  on  September  11,  1777,  Washington  was  defeated. 
Among  those  wounded  in  that  fight  was  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette,  the 
French  aristocrat  who  had  volunteered  for  service  with  the  American  army. 
Washington  retired  to  Philadelphia.  Howe  followed  him  thither,  and, 
being  out-marched,  Washington  abandoned  the  city  of  Philadelphia  and 
moved  to  Valley  Forge,  after  suffering  a  severe  defeat  at  German- 
town,  Pennsylvania.  Here  he  spent  the  winter;  his  troops  were  in  pitiable 
condition,  the  shoes  of  his  soldiers  being  so  worn  that  their  bleeding  feet 
left  blood-stains  in  the  snow.  Howe  spent  the  winter  in  Philadelphia. 

The  two  armies  were  now  pitted  around  Philadelphia,  fighting  for  pos- 
session of  that  city.  There  was  brilliant  strategy,  however,  in  this  plan  that 
worked  to  the  advantage  of  the  Americans  and  won  them  the  decisive  vic- 
tory. The  defeats  of  the  American  army  kept  the  British  army  divided. 
The  British,  having  planned  to  cut  the  New  England  States  off  from  the 
rest,  decided  to  conquer  the  eastern  part  of  New  York  State.  General 
Burgoyne  was  to  march  down  to  Albany  from  Lake  Champlain.  There 
he  was  to  meet  a  force  under  Colonel  St.  Leger,  which  would  arrive  after 
coming  down  Lake  Ontario  to  Oswego  and  through  the  valley  of  the  Mo- 
hawk to  Albany.  A  third  force  under  General  Howe  was  to  go  up  the 
Hudson  from  Manhattan.  On  July  5,  1776,  Burgoyne  took  Ticonderoga 
and  then  went  to  Bennington  to  destroy  American  munitions,  but  there  he 
encountered  Colonel  John  Stark's  force  and  was  routed.  Howe  failed  to 
come  up  the  Hudson,  and  St.  Leger  met  with  defeat  at  Rome,  New  York. 
Burgoyne,  having  no  support,  tried  to  retreat.  He  reached  Saratoga  and 
there  on  October  17,  1777,  was  forced  to  surrender — thus  the  first  decisive 
victory  in  the  war  was  won  by  the  Americans. 

France  now  espoused  the  American  cause  and  sent  aid  in  the  form 
of  a  fleet.  Hearing  of  this,  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  successor  to  Howe,  left 
Philadelphia  and  came  to  New  York.  General  Washington  followed, 
and  in  the  fall  of  1778  partly  surrounded  the  British  army  in  New  York 
by  stretching  his  forces  in  a  cordon  from  Morristown,  New  Jersey,  to 
West  Point,  New  York.  The  British  in  New  York  now  for  some  months 
were  to  rest  on  their  arms.  Their  campaigns  as  a  whole  had  not  been 
decided  successes.  They  now  transferred  their  activities  to  the  South, 
after  making  attempts,  during  1779,  to  draw  Washington  away  from 
New  York.  The  British  General  Clinton,  in  the  spring  of  1780,  cap- 
tured Charleston,  South  Carolina.  A  new  American  army  had  been 
quickly  raised  and  placed  under  General  Gates,  but  it  was  defeated  by 
Cornwallis  at  Camden,  South  Carolina,  on  August  16,  1780.  It  was  a 
very  severe  defeat  and  came  soon  after  another  tragedy — the  brilliant 

175 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

but  deluded  Benedict  Arnold,  in  command  at  West  Point,  intrigued  in 
July,  1780,  to  deliver  the  fort  to  the  British.  The  British  agent  in  the 
conspiracy,  Major  Andre,  was  captured,  and  Arnold  fled  to  the  British  lines, 
later  becoming  a  British  officer. 

Again  a  new  American  army  was  raised  for  operations  in  the  South, 
and  this  time  General  Nathaniel  Greene  was  given  command.  He  all  but 
destroyed  the  British  forces  in  the  South  at  Cowpens,  South  Carolina,  on 
January  17,  1781.  Cornwallis  was  now  pitted  against  him.  Though 
forced  to  much  strategical  retreating  during  the  next  few  months, 
Greene  had  driven  the  British  out  of  South  Carolina  by  the  fall  of 
1781.  Cornwallis  now  started  to  fortify  Yorktown,  Virginia,  where  he 
was  surrounded  by  the  American  forces  on  land  (now  under  the  com- 
mand of  Washington)  and  the  French  fleet  on  the  sea.  The  decisive  mo- 
ment had  come — only  surrender  was  left  to  him,  and  he  took  that  action 
on  October  19,  1781.  This  marked  the  end  of  British  hopes  for  success, 
and,  though  there  was  further  fighting  between  scattered  forces,  a  treaty 
of  peace  was  signed  in  November,  1782.  The  American  Revolution  had 
been  fought  and  won — the  spirit  of  democracy  had  triumphed — a  new  na- 
tion was  born. 

It  would  not  be  just  to  close  this  brief  survey  of  the  American 
Revolution  without  a  few  words  regarding  the  American  naval  forces  and 
their  brilliant  victories.  The  American  navy  had  come  into  existence  on 
October  13,  1775,  when  Congress  commissioned  two  sailing  vessels;  two 
months  later  it  authorized  the  building  of  thirteen  cruisers.  While 
these  were  on  the  stays,  merchant  vessels  to  the  number  of  eight  were 
converted  into  warships;  this  fleet  sailed  to  the  Bahamas,  where  it  made 
an  attack  and  returned  safely  to  New  London,  Connecticut.  Meantime, 
privateers  were  "sniping"  at  British  merchantmen  and  warships  every- 
where. On  the  coast  of  France,  the  Surprise  and  the  Revenge  were  fitted 
out  and  sailed  under  the  American  flag,  doing  much  damage  to  British 
shipping  in  1777.  John  Paul  Jones,  with  the  Bonhomme  Richard,  har- 
ried the  English  coasts,  entered  the  harbor  of  Whitehaven,  destroyed  mu- 
nitions there,  and  fought  the  British  Drake,  which  he  captured  (1778). 
On  September  23,  1779,  he  met  and  fought  the  Serapis,  which  survived 
the  fight.  When  his  own  ship  went  down,  he  sailed  away  in  his  prize. 
The  British  lost  102  vessels  in  the  war;  the  24  lost  by  the  Americans 
amounted  to  almost  their  entire  navy.  By  the  articles  of  the  final  treaty 
of  peace,  which  were  signed  in  1783,  the  English  Government  acknowl- 
edged the  Independence  of  the  United  States,  and  the  boundaries  of  the 
new  republic  were  decided  and  agreed  upon. 

176 


BATTLE   OP  THE   THAMES   IN   WAR   OF    1812 — Gen.    William    H.    Harrison    vanquished   the 

British,  on   October   5,    181 3 — Their   Indian   allies  were   routed,   and   fled  into 

the   swamps — Tecumseh,   the   Indian   chief,   was  slain. 


BATTLES    AT    PLATTSBURG    IN    WAR    OF    1812 — Here,    on    banks    of    Lake    Champlain,    the 

Americans  met  the  British  on  their  invasion  from  Canada — After  terrific  fighting 

the  British  on  September  11,  1814,  fled  back  to  Canada. 


FAMOUS    NAVAL    BATTLES    IN    AMERICAN    HISTORY— This    engraving    memorializes    the 
great   battle  between   the  Constitution   and   the   Guerri6re — It  was   fought  on  August 
19,  1812,  off  the  Bay  of  Fundy — The  Guerri6re  was  set  on  fire  and  blown  up. 


HEROIC     DEEDS    OF    GALLANT    AMERICANS — Captain     Lawrence    was    fatally    wounded 
battle   between    the   Chesapeake   and    Shannon,    on    June   1,    1813 — Forced   to   surrender,    his 
ship  was  taken  as  a  prize  into  Halifax — His  last  words  were  :    "Don't  give  up  the  ship." 


GREAT  AMERICAN  WARS 

War  With  France — Establishing  American  Integrity 

WAR  with  France — this  is  the  second  war  of  the  American  people 
and  the  first  after  the  founding  of  the  nation.  It  was  a  series 
of  short  hostilities  with  France — a  most  unfortunate  misunder- 
standing with  America's  loyal  friend  in  the  American  Revolution.  After 
the  Revolution  the  French  became  offended  with  America  because  of  our 
recent  treaty,  Jay's  Treaty,  with  England,  which  was  signed  in  1794.  It 
brought  an  end  to  France's  hopes  that  America  might  again  engage  in 
war  against  her  enemy  England,  and  it  angered  the  French  because  of 
the  advantages  which  it  gave  to  England.  Friction  between  America 
and  France  grew  until  the  public  here  believed  that  our  national  honor 
was  at  stake.  The  expulsion  of  the  American  minister  from  France  had 
much  to  do  with  bringing  on  this  state  of  affairs.  War  came  in  1798, 
and  it  was  fought  entirely  on  the  sea.  The  Amercian  warships  Constella- 
tion^ Boston  and  Enterprise  met  the  French  ships  Insurgente,  Vengeance, 
Berceau,  and  others,  in  individual  encounters — and  in  each  the  Americans 
won.  Minor  fights  proved  as  glorious  for  America  and,  when  Napoleon 
became  the  head  of  the  French  Government,  he,  in  1800,  brought  the  hostil- 
ities to  an  end.  This  war  at  least  asserted  to  the  world  that  the  Amer- 
ican nation  was  an  independent  power  that  proposed  to  maintain  its 
integrity. 

Second  War  With  England — Establishing  Freedom  of  the  Seas 

WAR  of  1812  against  England — this  is  the  third  American  war 
— only  twenty-nine  years  after  our  first  victory  over  the  Mother- 
country.  It  is  known  as  the  second  war  with  England  or  the 
War  of  1812.  The  trouble  arose  over  the  freedom  of  American  com- 
merce. England  and  France  were  engaged  in  the  Napoleonic  War.  In 
seeking  to  destroy  each  other's  commerce,  they  flagrantly  disregarded 
American  rights  on  the  sea  from  1806  onward.  The  actions  of  the  Eng- 
lish in  this  respect  were  very  defiant  to  the  American  people.  It  was 
generally  believed  that  they  were  seeking  revenge  because  they  had  not 
forgotten  the  English  rule  in  America  previous  to  1776.  In  the  proclama- 
tion of  war,  issued  June  18,  1812,  President  Madison  named  four  causes 
for  declaring  it:  the  inciting  of  Indians  to  attack  on  the  American  fron- 
tiers, the  interference  with  American  commerce  in  European  waters,  the 
stationing  of  cruisers  off  American  ports  to  search  American  vessels,  and 
the  impressment  of  American  seamen. 

Three  American  armies  immediately  started  to  invade  Canada  under 
Generals  Hull,  Van  Rensselaer  and  Dearborn.     But  all  three  were  de- 

179 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

feated,  Hull  surrendering.  Oliver  Hazard  Perry,  with  a  fleet  hastily 
equipped  on  the  Great  Lakes,  captured  the  whole  of  the  British  lake  fleet 
at  the  Battle  of  Lake  Erie,  in  September,  1812.  His  victory  was  com- 
plete and  his  report  of  it  was  given  in  the  cryptic  message:  "We  have 
met  the  enemy  and  they  are  ours." 

Another  attempt  at  invading  Canada  was  made  in  1813.  The  town  of 
York  was  taken  and  burned,  but  the  American  forces  did  not  have  confidence 
to  go  on  and  returned  to  New  York.  A  third  attempt  was  made  in  1814, 
and  Generals  Winfield  Scott  and  Jacob  Brown  won  the  battles  of  Chip- 
pewa  and  Lundys  Lane,  only  to  be  driven  out  of  Canada  later.  The 
British  now  planned  to  invade  New  York  with  the  same  plan  on  which 
Burgoyne  had  started  out  in  1776.  But  their  land  forces  were  defeated 
at  Plattsburg  by  General  Macomb,  and  their  fleet  was  destroyed  in  Platts- 
burg  Bay  by  McDonough. 

On  the  high  seas  the  Americans  were  writing  glorious  history. 
When  the  war  started,  there  were  sixteen  ships  in  the  American  navy  to 
1,200  in  the  British  service.  The  American  frigate  Constitution  started 
with  a  victory  over  the  Guerriere  and  many  other  British  ships.  The 
United  States  defeated  the  Macedonian,  and  the  Wasp  captured  the  Brit- 
ish ship  Frolic,  but  on  the  same  day  was  taken  by  the  Poic tiers.  In  1813, 
the  Constitution  added  to  her  fame  by  taking  the  Java;  the  English  ship 
Peacock  fell  a  victim  to  the  Hornet,  and  the  Boxer  was  captured  by  the 
American  ship  Enterprise.  The  Pelican  of  the  English  navy  defeated 
the  Argus  after  the  latter  had  destroyed  27  ships  in  English  waters. 
The  American  ship  Chesapeake,  under  Captain  Lawrence,  was  challenged 
by  the  Shannon  in  Boston  Harbor  and  was  defeated.  Lawrence,  before 
meeting  his  death,  uttered  the  famous  command:  "Don't  give  up  the 
ship."  By  1814  the  British  ceased  to  consider  the  heroic  little  American 
navy  as  a  weak  adversary,  and,  realizing  the  humiliating  position  in 
which  the  empire  was  being  placed,  sent  over  here  all  available  ships 
and  blockaded  the  American  ports.  A  large  fleet  came  up  from  Bermuda, 
and,  entering  Chesapeake  Bay,  sailed  up  and  landed  troops  in  Mary- 
land. Marching  on  to  Washington,  the  British  burned  public  buildings 
in  revenge  for  the  burning  of  York.  Meanwhile,  an  extremely  large  ex- 
pedition set  out  from  Jamaica  in  November,  1814,  to  take  New  Orleans. 
Madison  ordered  Andrew  Jackson  to  defend  the  Southern  city.  With 
a  loss  of  only  71  men,  he  saved  New  Orleans  and  inflicted  the  loss  of 
2,036  English  troops  in  battle  on  January  8,  1815.  The  British  made 
no  further  attacks  against  him.  Peace  negotiations  had  been  opened  and 
a  treaty  was  signed  at  Ghent,  calling  for  cessation  of  hostilities  and  arrang- 
ing permanent  agreement  for  peace,  a  month  before  the  attack  was  made 

180 


GREAT  AMERICAN  WARS 

on  New  Orleans.  But,  owing  to  the  fact  that  news  could  at  that  time 
cross  the  Atlantic  only  on  sailing  vessels,  this  message  arrived  in  America 
too  late  to  prevent  the  battle. 

The  treaty  which  resulted  from  the  war  embodied  no  mention  what- 
soever of  the  causes  of  the  war.  As  far  as  the  document  itself  went,  it 
did  little  more  than  end  the  fighting;  but  the  war  had  brought  the  atten- 
tion of  the  world  to  the  fact  that  America  stood  ready  to  defend  its  rights 
at  all  times.  It  was  an  excellent  warning  to  the  Old  World  powers — 
and  a  warning  which  they  heeded  till  the  end  of  the  century. 

War  With  Mexico — Maintaining  American  Principles 

WAR  with  Mexico — this  is  the  fourth  American  war.  The  causes 
of  this  war  lay  hi  the  troubles  that  had  been  engendered  by  the 
admission  of  Texas  into  the  Union  in  1845.  When  the  Re- 
public of  Texas  declared  its  independence  of  Mexico,  in  1837,  its 
boundaries  were  set  to  the  westward  along  the  Rio  Grande,  from  one 
end  of  it  to  the  other,  and  along  a  line  running  north  from  its  source 
to  the  42nd  parallel.  Mexico  claimed  that  the  western  boundary  ran 
along  the  Nueces  River.  The  land  between  the  Nueces  River  and  the 
Rio  Grande  was  in  dispute  up  to  1846.  At  that  time  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment decided  to  stand  by  the  claims  of  Texas  and  sent  troops  into 
the  disputed  territory.  General  Zachary  Taylor  was  placed  in  command. 
He  was  attacked  by  the  Mexicans  on  April  25,  1846.  When  the  news 
reached  the  President,  he  decided  to  declare  war.  A  proclamation  was 
issued  on  May  12,  1846.  Congress  voted  money  and  supplies  for  an 
army  of  50,000  volunteers.  Taylor  met  the  Mexicans  at  Palo  Alto  and 
defeated  them.  He  defeated  them  again  at  Resaca  de  la  Palma  and  then 
took  Matamoras.  Here  he  remained  to  wait  for  supplies  and  reinforce- 
ments before  marching  on  to  Monterey.  The  Mexican  General  Ampudia 
surrendered  that  city  on  September  24,  1846,  after  a  hard  battle.  Gen- 
eral Taylor  moved  on  to  Saltillo. 

With  the  increase  in  the  number  of  American  troops,  General  Win- 
field  Scott  was  placed  in  supreme  command  of  all  the  American  forces 
and  was  despatched  to  Mexico.  He  reached  the  theater  of  war  in  Janu- 
ary, 1847.  He  met  Santa  Anna  at  Vera  Cruz,  whence  the  latter  had 
gone  after  having  been  defeated  by  Taylor  at  Buena  Vista  on  February 
23,  1847.  Scott  took  Vera  Cruz  in  March  and  then  started  on  his  con- 
quest of  Mexico  City.  He  fought  battles  in  quick  succession — Cerro 
Gordo,  April  18;  Jalapa,  April  19;  Perote,  April  22;  Puebla,  May  15. 
He  reached  his  goal  on  August  10,  1847,  and  captured  it  on  the  14th  of 
September,  1847.  General  Scott  had  been  victorious  in  every  engagement, 

181 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

but  the  loss  of  men  through  the  climatic  conditions,  disease,  and  battle, 
was  enormous. 

While  these  operations  to  the  southward  were  going  on,  the  Gov- 
ernment despatched  Colonel  Stephen  Kearny  to  New  Mexico  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1846.  After  taking  that  territory  in  the  name  of  the  govern- 
ment he  marched  west  to  take  California,  but  on  his  arrival  there  found 
that  it  had  been  taken  by  Fremont.  Hearing  rumors  of  the  war  with 
Mexico,  the  American  settlers  in  California  had  revolted  and  set  up  a 
republic  of  their  own,  receiving  material  aid  from  Fremont,  who  hap- 
pened to  be  in  the  mountains  with  a  force,  and  from  Commodore  Stock- 
ton, who  was  then  in  Californian  waters  with  his  fleet.  These  forces  held 
the  country  until  Kearny  arrived. 

The  Mexicans,  defeated  everywhere,  were  not  loath  to  sign  the 
treaty  of  peace  which  was  promulgated  at  Guadalupe  Hidalgo  in  Febru- 
ary, 1848.  By  its  terms  Mexico  ceded  the  land  which  now  comprises 
California,  Nevada,  part  of  Utah,  New  Mexico,  and  part  of  the  present 
State  of  Arizona — upon  a  payment  of  $15,000,000.  Claims  held  by 
American  citizens  against  Mexico,  amounting  to  more  than  $3,000,000, 
were  to  be  paid  by  the  United  States.  The  newly  acquired  territory  con- 
tained 522,568  square  miles. 

American  Civil  War — Decision  of  a  Constitutional  Problem 

AMERICAN  Civil  War — this  is  the  fifth  great  American  war. 
Here  we  find  the  country  divided  against  itself  on  a  great  eco- 
nomic issue.  The  issue  which  brought  on  the  Civil  War,  and 
which  was  fought  out  by  that  war,  was  a  constitutional  question — the 
right  of  a  State  or  States  to  secede  from  the  Union,  arising  over  the  ques- 
tion of  the  extension  of  slavery,  not  the  abolition  of  slavery. 

When  Abraham  Lincoln  was  elected  to  the  Presidency,  in  1860,  the 
Southerners  realized  that  to  rely  on  the  ballot  for  the  maintenance  of 
their  stand  on  the  question  was  hopeless.  They  were  out-voted;  they 
saw  that  their  voice  would  be  a  minor  voice  in  the  new  Congress;  they 
feared  that  this  Congress  and  the  President  would  not  properly  represent 
them  and  guarantee  what  they  believed  to  be  their  rights.  They  decided 
to  sever  all  connections  with  the  Federal  Government  and  set  up  their 
own  Confederacy. 

A  convention  of  delegates  was  called  by  the  legislature  of  South 
Carolina  a  few  days  after  Lincoln  was  elected.  It  formally  renounced  its 
connection  with  the  Union,  claiming  to  be  a  "sovereign,  free  and  inde- 
pendent" State.  This  action  was  quickly  followed  by  Alabama,  Florida, 
Georgia,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas.  Six  of  these  States  entered  a 

182 


BATTLE  OF  CIIIPPEWA  IN  WAR  OF  1812 — It  was  here,  near  Niagara  Falls,  on  the  Canadian 

border,  that  the  Americans  under  terrific  fire  attacked  and  repulsed 

the  British  and  Indian  allies  on  July  llth,  1814. 


BATTLE  AT  LUXDY'S  LANE  IN  WAR  OF  1812 — Here,  near  the  great  cataract  of  Niagara  Falls, 

a  terrific  battle  between  the  Americans  and  British  took  place  on  July 

23,  1814 — It  was  the  most  brilliant  exploit  of  the  war. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  WARS 

confederation  on  February  4,  1861,  and  set  up  the  government  of  the 
Confederate  States  of  America.  Jefferson  Davis  was  elected  Provisional 
President  and  a  constitution  was  formed. 

President  Lincoln,  in  his  interpretation  of  the  American  Constitution, 
refused  to  consider  the  Union  dissolved.  He  declared  he  would  carry 
out  its  laws  with  force  as  a  final  means.  Fort  Sumter,  in  South  Caro- 
lina, was  a  Federal  military  station  defended  by  a  force  of  Union  soldiers. 
On  April  12,  1861,  the  Confederates  fired  on  it  and  forced  it  to  fall — 
the  first  shots  in  the  most  terrible  fratricidal  war  in  the  world's  history. 
The  South  had  a  population  united  in  opinion  as  to  the  righteousness  of 
its  course.  It  had,  also,  the  sympathy  of  all  the  great  powers  in  Europe 
with  the  single  exception  of  Russia. 

President  Lincoln  immediately  called  for  75,000  militia  for  three 
months'  services.  Arkansas,  North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  and  Virginia  were 
forced  to  declare  their  position — all  of  them  pledging  themselves  to  the 
Confederacy.  The  Confederate  capital  was  established  at  Richmond, 
Virginia.  The  mountaineers  in  the  western  part  of  Virginia  formed  the 
new  State  of  West  Virginia  and  cast  their  lot  with  the  Union.  Acting 
on  the  ground  that  the  Union  was  still  intact,  Lincoln  indicated  that 
his  volunteers  were  to  come  from  every  State  in  the  Union,  but  no  response 
came  from  those  which  had  seceded,  and  the  75,000  men  came  from  the 
North.  By  the  summer  of  1861,  there  were  183,588  men  in  the  Union 
uniform,  42,000  having  been  enlisted  for  three  years'  service.  The 
South  raised  a  formidable  army,  and  the  two  forces  lined  up  for  battle. 
The  dividing  line  was  in  three  parts;  the  first  ran  from  Fortress  Monroe, 
Virginia,  up  Chesapeake  Bay  to  the  Potomac  River  and  westward  to  the 
mountains;  the  second  part  ran  from  there  through  West  Virginia,  and 
across  Kentucky — which  assumed  neutrality — to  the  Mississippi  River; 
the  third  part  ran  from  there  across  the  Indian  Territory  and  New  Mexico. 

The  first  battle  occurred  at  Bull  Run,  in  Virginia,  thirty  miles  south- 
west of  Washington,  on  July  21,  1861.  It  was  a  victory  for  the  South. 
General  Winfield  Scott  was  chief  in  command  of  the  Union  forces. 
Under  him  was  General  McDowell,  commanding  the  forces  near  Wash- 
ington. Further  to  the  west,  General  Patterson  was  in  command,  while 
General  George  B.  McClellan  held  the  lines  across  West  Virginia  and  the 
western  part  of  old  Virginia.  General  Lyon  held  command  of  the  Union 
troops  in  Missouri.  On  the  Southern  side,  General  Beauregard  opposed 
General  McDowell  at  Bull  Run,  and  other  able  strategists  were  espous- 
ing *he  Southern  cause.  In  the  eastern  theater  there  was  to  be  no  fight- 
ing for  some  time  after  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  for  McClellan  gave  his  time 
to  drilling  his  troops. 

185 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

In  the  western  theater  of  war,  General  Buell  sent  General  Thomas 
against  the  Confederates  at  Mill  Springs  in  January,  1862,  in  an  effort  to 
break  the  Confederate  line.  And,  in  the  next  month,  General  Grant  and 
Flag  Officer  Foote  of  the  naval  forces  were  commanded  by  their  superior, 
General  Hal  leek,  to  attack  Fort  Henry  on  the  Tennessee  River.  Foote, 
having  accomplished  this  alone,  Grant  took  his  own  force  to  attack  Fort 
Donelson  on  the  Cumberland  River  and  defeated  General  Buckner,  who 
surrendered  to  him  on  February  16,  1862. 

The  Confederates  now  fell  back  toward  Corinth,  Mississippi,  and 
were  followed  by  three  armies  under  General  Halleck.  The  army  under 
General  S.  R.  Curtis  defeated  the  Confederates  in  Missouri;  the  army 
under  General  John  Pope  cooperated  with  a  force  under  Foote,  took 
Island  No.  10  and  then  rejoined  Halleck  as  he  moved  against  Corinth. 
A  Union  fleet  went  down  the  Mississippi  and  after  causing  the  fall  of 
Fort  Pillow,  sailed  on  down  to  Memphis,  which  was  captured  on  June  6, 
1862.  Grant  had  meanwhile  been  following  the  Confederates  and,  upon 
reaching  Pittsburg  Landing,  was  given  battle  and  defeated  by  General 
A.  S.  Johnston.  On  the  next  day,  April  7,  1862,  he  fought  Johnston  again 
and  won  the  battle  of  Shiloh.  Johnston  moved  on  to  Corinth  and  left  it 
on  occupation  by  Halleck  at  the  end  of  May.  The  Unionist  commander 
was  then  called  to  Washington  to  take  command  of  all  the  Federal  forces. 

The  Unionist  line  in  the  west  now  ran  from  Memphis  and  Corinth 
to  Chattanooga.  Starting  from  the  last  named  place,  the  Confederate 
General  Bragg  moved  toward  Louisville,  Kentucky,  but  a  counter  move 
by  General  Buell  thwarted  him.  Buell  had  drawn  on  Grant  for  troops 
for  this  move.  Knowing  this,  the  Confederate  Generals  Price  and  Van 
Dorn  moved  from  luka  and  Holly  Springs,  respectively,  for  Corinth,  but 
Grant  despatched  his  subordinate,  Rosecrans,  to  meet  the  former,  which 
he  did  with  success.  Bragg  now  prepared  to  winter  at  Murfreesboro,  Ten- 
nessee, and  was  attacked  there  by  Rosecrans,  who  now  had  command  of 
BuelPs  army.  A  three  days'  battle  fought  there,  beginning  December, 
1862,  ended  in  the  defeat  of  Bragg.  Farther  west,  General  Curtis  drove 
the  Confederates  south  of  the  Arkansas  River  and  west  of  the  Mississippi 
during  the  year  1862,  and  at  the  end  of  that  year  only  Vicksburg,  Grand 
Gulf,  and  Port  Hudson  were  left  to  the  Confederate  forces  in  that  theater 
of  war.  General  Butler,  cooperating  with  naval  forces  under  Farragut, 
in  the  spring  of  1862,  set  out  to  capture  New  Orleans.  Farragut  bom- 
barded its  defending  forts,  destroyed  the  Confederate  fleet,  and,  by  April 
25,  1862,  had  taken  the  city.  General  Butler  marched  into  it  and  held 
it  till  the  end  of  the  war. 

The  year  1862  had  not  given  the  Unionist  forces  much  hope  in  the 

186 


GREAT  AMERICAN  WARS 

eastern  theater  of  fighting.  The  Northern  populace  was  demanding  that 
the  army  take  Richmond.  McClellan  aroused  disfavor  because  he  failed 
in  the  attempt  and  did  not  agree  with  the  Administration's  plan  for  the 
move.  The  fighting  here  was  to  take  place  on  the  peninsula  formed  by 
Chesapeake  Bay  and  the  James  River,  which  gave  these  operations  the 
name  of  the  Peninsula  Campaign.  It  was  finally  settled  that  McClellan 
was  to  go  from  Washington  to  Fortress  Monroe  by  water,  and  then  march 
up  the  peninsula  to  Richmond,  where  he  was  to  be  joined  by  McDowell. 
McDowell  was  to  arrive  there  by  marching  from  Fredericksburg.  To  pre- 
vent an  attack  by  the  Confederates  upon  Washington  from  the  west,  Gen- 
erals Fremont  and  Banks  were  to  operate  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley.  The 
fear  of  attack  on  Washington  hampered  Unionist  operations  throughout 
the  war.  It  was  a  favorite  move  of  the  Confederate  generals  to  threaten 
the  capital  whenever  they  wished  to  draw  Unionist  forces  from  Virginia. 

General  Joseph  E.  Johnston  gave  McClellan  battle  when  the  latter 
landed  at  the  southern  end  of  the  Peninsula,  while  General  T.  J.  Jack- 
son ("Stonewall"  Jackson)  prevented  McDowell  from  joining  McClellan 
by  raiding  the  Shenandoah,  driving  the  force  of  General  Banks  into  Mary- 
land, and  escaping  southward  before  he  could  be  apprehended  by  Fremont 
or  McDowell.  Jackson  won  four  hard  battles  in  a  little  over  a  month 
and  so  alarmed  the  authorities  at  Washington  that  they  ordered  the  force 
of  McDowell  to  be  held  in  northern  Virginia.  McClellan  was  left  to  his 
own  resources  and  support;  he  went  up  to  within  eight  miles  of  Richmond, 
by  following  the  Chickahominy  River,  and  defeated  Johnston  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Fair  Oaks  on  May  31,  1862.  That  commander  was  now  replaced 
by  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  who,  in  cooperation  with  Jackson,  gave  battle 
to  McClellan  at  Mechanicsville  and  Gains  Mill  and  forced  him,  on  July 
i,  1862,  to  retreat  to  Harrison's  Landing;  he  remained  there  until  Au- 
gust and  then  was  ordered  to  take  up  a  position  on  the  Potomac  River. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Halleck  arrived  from  the  West  to  take 
command  of  the  Union  forces.  A  new  Unionist  army,  under  General 
Pope,  covered  a  line  running  along  the  Rappahannock  and  Rapidan  Riv- 
ers to  the  Shenandoah  Valley;  this  was  attacked  by  Lee,  who  defeated 
General  Banks  on  the  Rapidan,  moved  against  Pope  at  the  second  battle 
of  Bull  Run,  and  sent  the  Unionist  forces  back  to  Washington,  there  to 
be  joined  by  those  of  McClellan.  Crossing  into  Maryland,  Lee  was  de- 
feated by  McClellan  at  the  battle  of  Antietam,  September  17,  1862,  and 
returned  to  Virginia.  McClellan  was  removed  in  favor  of  General  Burn- 
side,  who  moved  against  the  fortifications  at  Fredericksburg  Heights,  De- 
cember 13,  1862,  and  went  into  winter  quarters  after  a  bloody  defeat 
there. 

187 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

Lincoln  now  issued  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  on  September 
22,  1862,  declaring  free  all  slaves  in  territory  at  war  with  the  Union, 
thus  placating  the  discontented  Northerners  by  making  the  war  turn  on 
.the  slavery  question  and  giving  it  a  moral  sanction,  and  also  thwarting 
the  plans  of  European  governments,  which  were  about  to  recognize  South- 
ern sovereignty.  He  knew  that  the  common  people  in  Europe  would  not 
support  action  by  their  governments  which  showed  any  sympathy  with 
the  institution  of  slavery.  The  proclamation  was,  therefore,  strictly  a 
measure  of  war. 

The  spring  of  1863  was  to  see  renewed  activity  by  the  armies  on 
both  sides.  Burnside  was  succeeded  by  "Fighting  Joe"  Hooker,  who  led 
his  force  against  Lee  and  met  defeat  at  Chancellorsville  on  May  4,  1863. 
Lee  now  decided  to  take  the  offensive  and  went  into  Pennsylvania  by  way 
of  the  Shenandoah  and  a  crossing  of  the  Potomac.  A  small  detachment  of 
Confederate  soldiers,  having  gone  into  the  little  town  of  Gettysburg,  Penn- 
sylvania, for  shoes,  accidently  met  and  fought  with  an  equally  small  de- 
tachment of  Federal  troops.  The  commanders  of  the  larger  armies — 
for  General  Meade,  a  successor  of  Hooker,  had  followed  Lee — hearing 
the  firing,  sent  small  reinforcements  to  these  small  detachments.  More 
and  more  reinforcements  were  sent  by  each  side,  so  that  the  accidental 
meeting  of  the  original  detachments  on  July  i,  1863,  developed  into  a 
three  days'  battle — the  greatest  battle  ever  fought  on  American  soil.  Lee 
was  defeated  and  on  July  4,  1863,  with  his  army,  was  again  on  his  way 
south.  The  first  attempt  at  raiding  Northern  States  had  ended  in  failure. 

Independence  Day,  1863,  brought  more  news  to  Washington,  for  on 
that  day  Vicksburg  had  surrendered  to  Grant  after  seven  weeks  of  siege. 
When  Fort  Hudson  surrendered  on  July  9,  1863,  the  Mississippi  River 
was  open  to  Federal  use  from  one  end  to  another,  and  the  Confederacy  was 
cut  in  half. 

The  business  of  the  Unionist  armies  in  the  West  was  now  to  force 
the  Confederates  eastward.  Rosecrans,  while  Grant  was  operating 
against  Vicksburg,  advanced  against  Bragg,  defeating  him  south  of  Mur- 
freesboro  and  compelling  him  to  retreat  into  northern  Georgia;  Rose- 
crans defeated  Bragg  again  at  Chickamauga,  September  19  and  20,  1863 
— mainly  through  the  splendid  generalship  of  his  subordinate,  George  H. 
Thomas — and  th«n  retired  to  Chattanooga.  Rosecrans  was  here  suc- 
ceeded by  Thomas,  and  the  army  was  saved  from  starvation  by  the  arrival 
of  an  army  coming  from  Virginia  in  command  of  General  Hooker.  Bragg 
had  followed  Rosecrans'  army  to  Chattanooga,  but  was  now  to  be  de- 
feated by  Thomas  in  the  battle  of  Lookout  Mountain,  or  the  Battle  in  the 

188 


CAPTURE  OF  FORT  GEORGE  IX  WAR  OF  1812 — Desperate  charge  against  the  fort  "on  Niagara 

River — It   was   captured  by  the  American  troops  under  General   Dearborn   after  a 

daring  attack  on  May  27.   1813 — Its  defenders  were  taken  prisoners. 


MASSACRE  OF  FOIJT  MI-M.MS  IN  WAR  OF  1812— This  massacre  of  the  whites  by  Creek  Indians 

took  place  at  the  Stockade  in  Alabama  on  August  30,  1813 — Over  500  men.' women 

and  children  were  killed  by  Indians  under  Weathersford,  a  half-breed. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  WARS 

Clouds,  November  25,  1863.     Bragg  retreated  into  northern  Georgia  and 
was  succeeded  in  command  by  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston. 

There  were  now  left  but  two  points  of  resistance  in  the  hands  of 
the  Confederates — Dalton,  Georgia,  where  Johnston  rested  with  his 
army;  and  the  Rapidan  and  Rappahannock  Rivers,  where  Lee  was  win- 
tering with  the  army  of  Virginia.  With  the  passing  of  the  winter,  Grant, 
who  now  held  the  rank  of  Lieutenant  General,  a  rank  held  previously 
only  by  Washington  and  Winfield  Scott,  put  into  operation  a  scheme  for 
destroying  both  the  remaining  Confederate  armies.  He  had  left  Gen- 
eral Sherman  in  command  of  the  armies  of  the  West  and  ordered  him  to 
commence  a  drive  into  Georgia  on  the  4th  day  of  May,  1864;  he  himself 
was  on  that  day  to  start  a  campaign  against  Lee  in  Virginia. 

Sherman  started  on  the  appointed  day  and,  with  98,000  men,  moved 
against  the  Confederate  commander,  Johnston,  at  Dalton,  Georgia.  But 
Johnston  was  a  master  of  the  strategy  of  retreat  and  succeeded  in  escap- 
ing to  Atlanta.  Here  Johnston  was  succeeded  by  General  J.  B.  Hood, 
who,  after  giving  battle  to  Sherman  three  times  during  July,  1864,  left 
Atlanta  and  started  northwestward.  But  Sherman  was  wise  enough  not 
to  pursue  him  with  his  whole  force  and  sent  General  Thomas  against  him. 
Thomas  drove  Hood  into  Tennessee  and  then  rejoined  Sherman  at  Atlanta. 
In  November,  1864,  with  60,000  troops,  Sherman  began  his  famous  march 
from  Atlanta  to  the  sea,  leaving  behind  him  a  belt  of  devastation  sixty 
miles  wide,  tearing  up  all  railroads,  destroying  bridges,  despoiling  farms 
and  all  property  which  might  be  useful  to  a  pursuing  army.  He  "pre- 
sented Savannah  as  a  Christmas  gift"  to  Lincoln  at  the  end  of  1864. 
Resting  there  for  a  month,  he  marched  north,  and,  by  March  1,  1865, 
had  reached  Goldsboro,  North  Carolina,  routing  an  army  under  Hood  on 
the  way. 

Grant  had  kept  his  part  of  the  agreement  by  marching  into  "the 
Wilderness,"  the  wooded  country  south  of  the  Rapidan,  and  after  terrific 
battles  reached  Cold  Harbor,  an  outer-defense  of  Richmond,  and  then  took 
up  his  position  for  the  siege  of  Petersburg  from  the  south.  He  had  been 
engaged  in  a  "hammering  campaign,"  which  he  determined  to  carry 
through  to  victory  without  regard  to  the  great  loss  of  men  which  it  neces- 
sitated. 

Lee,  with  brilliant  strategy,  in  order  to  draw  Grant's  forces  away, 
ordered  a  raid  made  up  the  Shenandoah,  threatening  Washington,  and 
chose  General  Jubal  Early  to  make  it.  He  arrived  before  the  capital's 
fortifications  and  then  returned  to  Virginia.  When  he  attempted  further 
raids,  Grant  sent  General  Sheridan  into  the  Shenandoah  to  stop  them,  and 

191 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  W&  LOVE 

this  Sheridan  accomplished  by  defeating  the  Confederates  at  the  battle  of 
Winchester,  on  October  19,  1864. 

The  Confederate  forces  were  now  so  near  annihilation  that  pour- 
parlers for  peace  were  initiated.  The  Confederate  Vice-President,  Alex- 
ander H.  Stephens,  met  Lincoln  on  a  vessel  in  Hampton  Roads,  but  the 
terms  proposed  by  Lincoln  were  not  acceptable,  and  the  fighting  continued. 
In  the  spring  of  1865,  Lee  saw  that  Richmond  could  not  hold  out.  Ac- 
cordingly, he  evacuated  the  Confederate  capital  on  April  3rd.  He  was 
pursued  by  Grant  and  surrendered  at  Appomattox  Court  House,  Virginia, 
on  April  9,  1865.  On  April  26th,  Johnston  surrendered  to  Sherman  near 
Raleigh,  North  Carolina. 

The  war  was  not  decided,  however,  merely  by  the  operations  of 
the  opposing  armies.  The  Federal  navy  had  been  largely  instrumental 
in  securing  the  Confederate  defeat.  There  were  forty  steam-propelled 
and  fifty  sailing  vessels  listed  as  warships  of  the  United  States  when  the 
war  began.  These  were  well  scattered  throughout  the  seven  seas  at  the 
opening  of  hostilities,  and  many  were  out  of  commission,  but  a  force  was 
made  available  to  blockade  all  the  Confederate  coasts.  The  remaining 
business  of  the  navy  was  to  capture  what  seaports  it  could,  to  command 
estuaries  of  every  kind — river  mouths,  bays,  etc., — to  open  the  Mississippi 
with  the  aid  of  the  army  and  to  destroy  all  ships  flying  the  Confeder- 
ate flag. 

The  blockade  was  declared  on  April  19,  1861,  and  was  successful 
from  the  start.  This  had  great  strategic  influence,  for  the  South  had  no 
ships  to  bring  to  it  munitions  of  war,  which  it  could  not  produce  because 
of  the  lack  of  mills  and  factories  characteristic  of  agricultural  regions. 
In  addition,  the  South  could  be  impoverished  by  stopping  shipment  of 
its  great  cotton  crop  to  the  customary  buyers  in  Europe.  The  embar- 
rassing feature  about  the  blockade  was  that  it  caused  hardship  in  Eng- 
land, where  thousands  starved  when  the  cotton-mills  could  no  longer  ob- 
tain raw  cotton.  This  induced  the  British  Government  to  seek  relief  by 
aiding  the  South  in  breaking  down  the  blockade  and  bringing  a  quick  end- 
ing to  the  war. 

Blockade-running,  of  course,  became  profitable.  The  South  tried 
retaliation  by  sending  out  commerce  destroyers  to  prey  on  Unionist 
merchantmen,  and  was  aided  in  these  operations  by  England.  The  cruis- 
ers Florida,  Alabama,  and  Shenandoah  were  built  in  British  seaports,  fitted 
out  there,  and  sailed  to  attack  American  ships — a  breach  of  neutrality 
on  the  part  of  England  which  was  settled  long  after  the  war  by  her  pay- 
ment of  an  indemnity.  The  cruiser  Wachusett  captured  the  "Florida  in 
the  harbor  of  Bahia,  Brazil ;  and  the  Alabama  was  defeated  by  the  Rear- 

192 


GREAT  AMERICAN  WARS 

sarge  off  the  coast  of  France,  near  Cherbourg,  June  19,  1864,  in  one  of 
the  most  famous  battles  in  marine  history.  The  Shenandoah  went  uncap- 
tured  during  the  entire  war  and  with  the  end  of  the  Confederacy  returned 
to  England. 

In  the  defense  of  their  rivers  the  Confederates  devised  a  new  type 
of  fighting  ship.  Cutting  down  the  hulls  of  several  sailing  vessels,  they 
covered  what  remained  of  them  with  sheet  iron  or  railway  ties,  thus 
making  them  almost  invulnerable  against  the  cannon  of  the  day.  These 
ironclads,  as  they  were  called,  could  ram  and  sink  the  enemies'  ships  with 
ease,  and  the  Southerners  used  them  for  that  purpose  with  great  success. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  the  ironclad.  The  most  famous  of  them  was 
the  Merrimac.  To  stop  her  depredations,  the  Federalists  sent  to  Hamp- 
ton Roads  the  craft  named  the  Monitor.  This  ship  was  built  mostly  under 
water;  it  had  an  iron  deck  like  a  raft  and  mounted  a  revolving  turret  car- 
rying two  guns.  It  was  said  to  be  like  "a  cheese-box  on  a  raft."  These 
two  odd  boats  met  in  combat  in  Hampton  Roads  on  the  morning  of 
April  9,  1862,  and  fought  a  drawn  battle.  It  had  a  great  result,  never- 
theless, for  by  the  next  morning  every  wooden  fighting  ship  throughout 
the  world  was  obsolete — the  ironclad  age  had  dawned. 

The  surrender  of  Lee  and  of  Johnston  brought  about  the  fall  of  the 
Confederacy.  No  treaty  brought  the  war  to  an  end,  for  the  Federal  vic- 
tory had  established  as  law  the  assertion  of  Lincoln  that  the  Union  still 
existed.  It  had  been  finally  settled  that  no  State  could  lawfully  secede 
from  the  Union.  In  money  the  war  had  cost  heavily.  The  national 
debt  stood  at  $90,000,000  in  1861  before  the  firing  on  Sumter;  it  stood 
at  $1,109,000,000,  plus  the  $90,000,000,  by  August  31,  1865.  The 
States  and  municipalities  had  contracted  debts  to  the  amount  of  $468,000,- 
ooo  through  the  war.  Six  billion  dollars  more  were  to  be  laid  out  by 
the  Federal  Government  from  the  time  that  Lee  surrendered  to  1879. 
The  cost  in  money  to  the  South  was  incalculable;  most  of  the  fighting 
had  taken  place  on  Southern  soil,  and  the  damage  resulting  to  property 
cannot  even  be  estimated.  The  loss  from  the  emancipation  of  slaves  came 
to  at  least  $2,000,000,000.  The  cost  of  the  American  Civil  War  has 
been  estimated  at  $10,000,000,000  in  money — a  total  of  $30,000,000,- 
ooo  with  all  the  economic  losses. 

But  the  loss  in  men  was  even  more  serious,  and  more  to  be  regretted 
because  both  sides  were  of  the  same  nationality.  The  highest  number  of 
men  in  the  Unionist  uniform  at  any  one  time  was  1,000,516,  and  the  total 
enlistment  for  the  four  years  for  the  North  came  to  more  than  2,000,000. 
The  Federals  lost  a  total  of  67,000  men  killed  in  battle,  43,000  who 
died  of  wounds,  230,000  who  died  of  disease,  exposure,  and  other  causes. 

193 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

The  number  in  the  Confederate  army  has  never  been  accurately  estimated, 
but  is  probably  nearly  1,000,000  men.  The  losses  probably  were  as 
large  as  on  the  Northern  side.  Thus  the  war  brought  death  to  700,000 
American  men.  It  settled  forever,  however,  a  great  world  problem  and 
united  the  American  people  into  an  indissoluble  Union — now  and  forever. 

War  With  Spain — "America  for  Humanity" 

WAR  with  Spain — this  is  the  fifth  great  American  war— the  dis- 
coverer of  the  Western  World.  Throughout  the  Nineteenth 
Century  the  islanders  in  Cuba  were  agitating  for  independence 
from  Spain,  following  the  successful  attempts  made  by  Mexico  and  the 
countries  in  South  America.  A  sixth  attempt  was  started  in  1895,  an<^ 
such  severity  was  resorted  to  by  Spain  to  suppress  the  spirit  of  freedom 
that  it  stirred  up  the  feelings  of  the  American  people.  Money  and  food 
were  sent  to  the  Cubans,  and  attempts  were  made  to  induce  Congress  to 
recognize  their  belligerent  rights.  Hatred  for  the  repressive  measures 
of  Spain  grew  intense  in  the  United  States.  It  was  brought  to  a  climax 
when  the  battleship  Maine,  while  lying  in  Havana  Harbor,  was  blown  up 
on  February  15,  1898.  It  has  never  been  determined  whether  this  was 
done  by  Spaniards  or  by  Cuban  patriots  who  wished  to  precipitate  action 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States.  But  public  opinion  demanded  that  the 
United  States  restore  peace  in  Cuba.  This  could  be  done  only  by  driv- 
ing Spain  from  the  island.  War  was  declared  on  April  21,  1898,  and 
$50,000,000  was  voted  by  Congress  to  carry  it  through.  Volunteers  were 
called  for,  and  200,000  men  enlisted. 

Commodore  George  Dewey,  who  was  at  Hongkong  with  an  Amer- 
ican fleet,  was  ordered  to  proceed  to  the  Philippine  Islands — Spanish  pos- 
sessions. The  fleet  under  Rear-Admiral  Sampson  was  sent  to  Cuban 
waters.  Dewey  destroyed  a  Spanish  fleet  in  Manila  harbor  and  then 
blockaded  the  city,  May  i,  1898.  Sampson  found  the  Atlantic  fleet  of 
the  Spaniards  in  the  harbor  of  Santiago  de  Cuba,  and,  after  keeping  it 
bottled  up  there,  fought  it  on  its  attempt  to  get  away  to  sea.  He  de- 
stroyed the  fleet  and  took  its  admiral,  Cervera,  prisoner,  on  July  3,  1898. 
Cervera  had  attempted  to  flee  when  the  city  of  Santiago  was  about  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  American  land  forces  operating  in  the  island.  Gen- 
eral Shafter,  with  18,000  men,  after  fighting  the  battles  of  El  Caney  and 
San  Juan  Hill,  July  1-3,  was  ready  to  take  the  city  itself.  It  was  oc- 
cupied by  American  troops  on  July  14,  1898.  General  Miles  was  then 
sent  with  a  force  to  capture  Porto  Rico,  which  he  did  with  little  trou- 
ble. Spain  was  now  willing  to  consider  peace  negotiations,  and  a  protocol 
was  signed  on  August  12,  1898,  but,  before  word  of  the  cessation  of  hos- 

194 


BATTLE  OF  VERA  CRUZ  IN  WAR  WITH  MEXICO — This  War  was  the  first  In  history,  lasting 

two  years,  in  which  no  defeat  was  sustained  by  one  party  and  no  victory 

won  by  the  other — Vera  Cruz  was  captured,  March  27,  1847. 


BATTLE  OF  CERRO  GORDO  IN  WAR  WITH  MEXICO— Gen.   Scott  on  bis  march  from  Vera 

Cruz  to  City  of  Mexico  stormed  the  fortress,  bristling  with  batteries  1,000  .feet 

above  the  river  and  routed  Santa  Anna  on  April  17,  1847. 


IT 


BATTLE  OF  NEW  ORLEANS  IN  AMERICAN  CIVIL  WAR— This   painting  shows   Admiral   Farragut 

on  the  Flagship  "Hartford,"   running  the  fire   of    the    Confederate    forts    at    daybreak,    with 

ship  in  flames — This  victory  prevented  Napoleon  from   recognizing  the  Confederacy. 


ni  IN   GREAT   AMERICAN   WARS— Famous     Civil     War     Paintinjr     by     Overond 

fl*ht   hnt*  'n   Amer^an  Art  th«  heroic  adventure    of    Admiral    Farragu ?  in    the    naval 
nght  between   the  Federal  and  Confederate  fleets  on  the  Mississippi  River  in   1862 


BATTLS    OP    BUENA    VISTA    IN    MEXICAN    WAR — Here   Gen.    Zachary   Taylor,    after    fearful 

slaughter,   routed  the  Mexicans  on   November  23,   1846 — Santa  Anna  fell   back 

and  his  utterly  dispirited  army  was  almost  dissolved. 


BATTLE  OF  MOLINO  DEL  KEY  IN  WAR  WITH  MEXICO— Here  the  Americans    under  General 

Scott  fought  a  desperate  battle  on  September  8th,  1847,  on  the  march  to  Mexico 

City — Six  days  later  victorious  army  entered  the  capital. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  WARS 

tilitics  could  reach  the  Far  East,  the  American  land  forces  under  Gen- 
eral Merritt  and  the  fleet  under  Dewey  closed  in  on  Manila  and  took 
that  city. 

The  final  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  at  Paris,  December  10,  1898. 
By  its  terms  Spain  gave  up  claim  to  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  Guam  (an  island 
in  the  Pacific),  and  the  Philippines.  For  public  works  in  the  latter  she 
received  $20,000,000.  Cuba  was  later  to  be  set  up  as  an  independent 
republic,  but  the  other  territories  were  to  become  part  of  the  American 
domain.  Some  years  were  spent  in  suppressing  native  insurrections  in 
the  Philippines,  but  peace  was  finally  restored,  and  the  islands  entered  on 
a  new  era  of  civilization  and  prosperity.  It  was  the  Spanish  War,  more- 
over, that  broke  the  chains  of  provincialism  in  America  and  brought  the 
United  States  before  all  the  nations  as  a  world  power. 

America,  therefore,  has  not  been  a  warless  nation.  It  has  been 
forced  to  fight  its  way  up  from  the  wilderness;  it  purchased  its  freedom 
with  blood;  it  established  its  integrity  with  blood;  it  secured  its  freedom 
on  the  seas  with  blood ;  it  expanded  its  dominion  of  freedom  with  blood ; 
it  emancipated  its  slaves  and  established  national  unity  with  blood;  it  took 
its  stand  for  humanity  and  stepped  out  as  a  world  power  with  blood.  But 
it  may  be  said  that  the  Americans  have  never  instigated  a  war;  they  have 
never  fought  a  war  for  self-aggrandizement;  they  have  never  lost  a  war. 
Every  American  war  has  been  for  the  furtherance  of  civilization  and  the 
betterment  of  humanity. 


199 


PART  III  CHAPTER  V 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INVENTIONS 


"Necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention." — Farquhar. 


I 


Epoch-builder  of  civilization  is  not  the  discoverer,  nor  the 
statesman,  nor  the  soldier — it  is  the  inventor.  He  is  the  "super- 
man" who  adapts  the  labors  of  all  to  the  needs  and  utility  of 
the  people.  Moreover,  government  and  law — the  whole  ethical 
system  of  society — may  be  changed  by  a  single  invention.  The  telephone 
and  the  telegraph,  the  steamship  and  railroad — all  American  inventions 
except  the  last  named — have  had  a  larger  effect  upon  human  progress  than 
all  the  world's  wars.  Electricity — an  American  discovery — is  a  more 
potent  force  in  the  world's  advancement  to-day  than  statecraft. 

The  seven  wonders  of  the  ancient  world  were  the  towering  pyramids 
of  Egypt,  the  wonderful  light-house,  or  Pharos,  in  Egypt,  the  Hanging 
Gardens  of  Babylon,  the  beautiful  temple  of  Diana  at  Ephesus,  the  statue 
of  Jupiter  by  Phidias,  the  sumptuous  mausoleum  of  Artemisia,  and  the 
bronze  Colossus  of  Rhodes.  We  look  back  with  awe  and  admiration  at 
the  seven  wonders  of  the  Middle  Ages;  there  we  see  the  stately  coliseum 
of  Rome,  the  catacombs  of  Alexandria,  the  great  wall  of  China,  the  cele- 
brated Stonehenge  on  Salisbury  Plain,  the  leaning  tower  of  Pisa,  the 
porcelain  tower  of  Nankin,  and  the  mosque  of  St.  Sophia  in  Constantinople. 

It  is  interesting  to  contrast  these  with  the  wonders  of  the  modern 
world:  the  wireless  messages  which  speak  from  the  sea  and  air;  the  tele- 
phone which  hurls  the  human  voice  across  the  continents ;  the  aeroplane  in 
which  men  travel  through  the  clouds,  the  phonograph,  the  motion  pictures, 
the  innumerable  inventions  that  are  daily  proving  the  genius  of  man;  the 
great  scientific  discoveries  such  as  radium,  antiseptics  and  antitoxins, 
spectrum  analysis,  and  X-rays;  and  the  gigantic  engineering  achievements 
that  typify  our  present  civilization. 

America,  if  it  had  never  accomplished  any  other  service  to  humanity 
than  the  inventions  which  it  has  contributed,  could  well  claim  distinction 
as  the  greatest  force  in  the  world's  progress.  On  this  foundation,  the 
American  people  have  earned  recognition  as  the  foremost  race  among  the 
nations.  We  are  a  nation  of  inventors;  we  are  millionaires  in  inventions. 
The  Patent  Office  has  issued  in  excess  of  a  million  patents  out  of  a  total 
of  three  million  for  the  whole  world.  We  breathe  invention  in  the  very 

201 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

air.  Every  day  we  are  giving  some  new  idea,  great  or  small,  to  the  world. 
It  is  America  first  and  the  rest  seldom  to  be  considered;  in  a  single  year 
when  35,807  patents  were  issued  in  this  country,  Germany  stood  second 
with  but  1,083,  an<^  England  third  with  894,  the  list  retrograding  till  we 
reach  two  apiece  from  Turkey  and  Costa  Rica,  and  one  each  from  Portugal, 
China,  and  Chile. 

What  have  the  great  American  inventions  done  for  the  human  race1? 
First,  they  have  liberated  the  human  race.  To-day  it  takes  about  50.000,- 
ooo  people  out  of  the  1,600,000,000  on  this  planet  to  manufacture  the 
world's  merchandise.  Without  American  inventions,  it  would  take  the 
hands  of  1,000,000,000  or  nearly  two-thirds  of  all  the  people,  working  ten 
hours  a  day,  to  manufacture  this  merchandise.  And  all  the  men  and  horses 
in  the  world  and  all  the  sailing  ships  could  not  transport  the  products  of  the 
farms,  the  mines,  and  the  shops  that  American  inventions  have  made  pos- 
sible. If  it  were  not  for  American  inventions  the  human  race  would  be  re- 
duced to  a  state  of  economic  slavery. 

American  inventions  have  enlarged  the  earth  (or  rather  its  power) 
many  fold.  They  have  multiplied  the  energy  of  the  people  of  the  earth 
by  over  1,000  in  transportation;  by  over  twenty  in  manufacturing;  and 
over  fifteen  in  farming  and  mining.  They  have  enormously  enlarged  the 
mental  forces  of  the  whole  world,  and  have  reduced  the  globe  to  a  girdle 
of  thirty  minutes  in  communication.  Since  Benjamin  Franklin  "snatched 
the  lightning  from  the  heavens  and  the  sceptre  from  the  hands  of  the  op- 
pressor," American  inventors  have  given  to  the  world  epoch-making  inven- 
tions which  have  done  more  than  all  the  preceding  thousand  years  to  shape 
the  course  of  history. 

The  American  inventor  brought  the  world  into  communication;  he 
girdled  the  world  with  the  steamship;  he  lights  the  world.  The  American 
inventor  harvests,  threshes,  grinds,  and  bakes  the  bread  of  the  world.  He 
makes  the  blank  paper  from  the  mountain  spruce,  flashes  the  news  of  the 
world  to  it,  and  prints  it  thereon.  He  types  the  world's  letters.  He  has 
taken  the  tired  horse  away  and  put  in  his  place  the  rubber  tire  and  the 
automatic-car.  He  has  laid  down  the  rail  around  the  globe  that  holds  to 
the  track  the  thundering  express  train  with  a  speed  of  sixty  miles  an  hour. 
He  pumps  the  rivers  and  gives  sanitation  to  great  cities.  He  grips  and 
brakes  the  railroad  trains  from  head-on  destruction.  He  has  given  the 
world  the  iron-bellied  ship  and  the  torpedo  that  destroys  it.  He  has  put 
into  the  hands  of  the  man  in  the  trench  the  breech-loading  gun.  His  steam 
shovels  cut  the  channels  of  the  great  canals.  He  makes  midnight  turn 
into  the  light  of  day.  He  penetrates  the  secrets  of  the  clouds,  the  fogs, 
the  winds  and  the  calm  azure  blue,  and  tells  the  farmer  when  to  cut  and 

202 


AMERICA'S  CONQUEST  OF  THE  AIR — The  airship  bepins  with  the  discoveries  by  Prof:  Samuel 

Langley  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution — The  first  successful  fliphts  in  modern 

aeroplanes  were  made  by  Orville  and  Wilbur  Wright  in  1908. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INVENTIONS 

take  in  his  hay,  and  the  ship  at  sea  the  weather  ahead.  He  carries  the 
vibrant  voice  of  man's  lips  to  his  fellows'  ears  across  the  vast  spaces  of 
light  and  darkness.  He  immortalizes  a  world-renowned  singer's  voice  and 
sends  it  to  the  peoples  of  the  earth.  He  wings  the  central  blue  and  carries 
a  sword  of  battle  to  the  clouds  and  drops  it  upon  the  naked  head  of  a  city. 
He  gives  every  son  and  daughter  of  Adam  a  cotton  shirt  and  sews  the  cloth. 

American  genius  has  done  all  these  things  and  many  more,  for  the 
clock  scarcely  strikes  an  hour  when  someone  in  this  country  does  not  invent 
something.  Americans  have  invented  more  than  half  of  all  the  useful  in- 
ventions of  the  world.  Before  Americans  began  to  invent  in  earnest, 
Europeans  had  from  the  days  of  Pericles  invented  not  more  than  a  dozen 
great  things,  among  them,  movable  type,  the  galvanic  battery,  the  telescope, 
the  steam-engine,  the  power-loom  and  the  spinning  jenny.  The  power- 
loom  and  the  spinning-jenny  never  would  have  been  developed  without 
Whitney's  cotton-gin. 

It  was  the  American  inventor  that  forged  the  key  to  the  Great  War 
in  Europe,  for  that  key,  according  to  David  Lloyd-George,  is  the  machine- 
tool.  The  United  States  Government  gave  Eli  Whitney,  the  inventor  of 
the  cotton-gin,  an  order  to  manufacture  10,000  muskets  for  the  army.  It 
was  then  that  he  invented  a  machine  for  making  the  duplicate  parts  of  the 
gun.  He  was  the  father  of  the  machine  tool — and  not  until  about  twenty 
years  ago  did  Germany  adopt  this  American  idea  that  has  made  her  a  land 
of  annihilating  machinery.  The  machine-tool  is  the  key  to  America's 
supremacy  in  invention,  for  every  great  American  inventor  since  the  days 
of  Whitney  has  inherited  it. 

Every  great  American  invention  with  its  human  element  is  an  absorb- 
ing romance.  Among  the  immortal  engineer  inventors  are  John  and 
Robert  Stevens,  Fulton,  Ericsson,  Shaw,  Langley,  Westinghouse,  and  the 
Wright  brothers.  Among  the  famous  mechanics  are  Howe,  Morse,  Edison, 
Bell,  Whitney,  Sholes,  Hotchkiss,  Mergenthaler,  Reynolds,  and  McCor- 
mick.  Among  those  who  made  new  discoveries  in  chemistry  are  Goodyear 
and  Tilghman.  And  towering  even  above  these  was  that  supreme  scien- 
tific mind,  Benjamin  Franklin,  the  father  of  American  science  and  inven- 
tion. His  mind  went  down  to  fundamental  principles,  and  he  identified 
lightning  with  electricity  and  brought  the  whole  scientific  world  to  direct 
electricity  into  practical  channels.  America's  debt  to  Franklin  is  greater 
than  its  debt  to  Washington  or  Columbus. 

On  all  the  seas  of  the  world  there  are  nearly  5,000,000  tons  of  steam- 
shipping  afloat,  as  we  observe  in  the  chapter  on  commerce.  This  vast 
navy,  with  its  passenger  service  for  the  earth's  travel,  with  its  hundreds  of 
millions  of  dollars  of  cargo,  and  with  its  giant  naval  armament,  was  all 

205 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

brought  into  this  world  by  the  inventions  of  three  Americans — Robert 
Fulton,  Colonel  John  Stevens,  and  John  Ericsson.  Fulton  had  given  the 
steamboat  and  the  submarine  to  the  world  in  the  first  decade  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Century.  The  next  long  step  was  inevitable  in  the  invention  of  the 
screw-propeller  by  Stevens,  which  forever  sealed  the  doom  of  the  sailing 
vessel  and  completed  the  conquest  of  the  ocean  by  steam.  There  was  but 
one  more  long,  distinct  step  in  invention  to  be  taken  to  arrive  at  the  great 
floating  steel  fortresses  and  ocean  grayhounds  which  we  have  to-day,  and 
that  step  was  also  taken  by  Ericsson,  in  the  famous  Monitor  of  our  Civil 
War.  So  it  was  an  American  that  harnessed  steam  in  a  ship;  it  was  an 
American  who  first  made  the  steamship  stake  control  of  the  seas ;  and  it  was 
an  American  that  made  possible  a  liner  of  50,000  tons  and  1,000  feet  in 
length,  with  her  flexible  steel  sides,  the  modern  conqueror  of  the  world's 
commerce.  From  the  brains  of  Fulton,  John  Stevens,  and  Ericsson  have 
come  not  alone  the  world's  commerce  but  also  the  present  terror  of  the 
seas,  the  submarine. 

It  was  Fulton's  steamboat  that  threw  open  the  Mississippi  and  the 
Missouri  Rivers  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  and  made  the 
Great  Valley  and  Middle  West  a  land  of  reality  to  the  American  people 
soon  after  the  Louisiana  Purchase.  The  American  continent  owes  its  con- 
quest in  the  first  place  to  the  steamboat. 

There  are  now  600,000  miles  of  railroads  in  the  world,  which  repre- 
sents about  $40,000,000,000,  as  discussed  in  the  chapter  on  railroads.  If 
the  inventions  of  two  Americans,  Robert  Stevens,  and  George  Westing- 
house,  had  not  come  to  crown  the  inventions  of  Watt  and  Stephenson,  this 
railroad  mileage  equaling  a  distance  of  twenty-four  times  the  circumference 
of  the  globe,  could  never  have  been  built.  The  cost  of  its  construction 
would  have  bankrupted  the  world,  and  would  have  destroyed  more  life 
than  war.  American  inventive  genius  has  not  only  made  the  modern  rail- 
road possible,  but  has  given  it  all  the  efficiency  and  safety  that  it  possesses. 

It  was  an  American,  Robert  Stevens,  the  son  of  Colonel  John  Stevens, 
who  perceived  that  a  train  of  cars  would  never  attain  a  speed  of  more  than 
ten  to  fifteen  miles  an  hour  on  the  then  flat  iron  rails  without  running  off. 
Out  of  this  pressing  necessity  for  both  speed  and  safety,  he  conceived  the 
cross  section  or  T  rail  which  called  for  the  flanged  wheel.  Stephenson's 
engine  could  pull  the  train.  Robert  Stevens'  T  rail  fixed  the  cars  to  the 
track  up  to  a  certain  limit  of  speed  and  scored  a  tremendous  advance  in 
railroading.  It  fixed  the  pace  and  safety  of  the  middle  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  in  America  and  Europe.  But,  while  the  driver  of  the  locomotive 
might  run  his  train  as  fast  as  the  traffic  on  the  road  would  permit,  a  fifty 
mile  an  hour  express  train  was  an  impossibility.  The  railroad  was  limited. 

206 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INVENTIONS 

i 

It  must  be  swamped  by  the  growth  of  travel  and  shipping.  Then  it  was 
that,  in  the  memory  of  men  living,  George  Westinghouse  put  the  full  con- 
trol of  the  car-wheels  into  the  hands  of  the  man  in  the  cab  by  means  of  the 
air-brake  lever  and  the  age  of  railroading  entered  upon  the  modern  era. 

American  Genius  Revolutionized  the  World  with  the  Telegraph 

AMERICA  gave  to  the  world  the  power  of  communication  by  elec- 
tricity. The  telegraph  stands  as  a  mighty  memorial  to  Ameri- 
can genius,  virtually  holding  together  with  its  web  of  copper 
wire  the  whole  structure  of  modern  civilization.  Its  sensitive  nerves 
stretch  from  city  to  city,  from  hamlet  to  hamlet,  wherever  there  is  a  pre- 
tense of  civilization,  welding  the  whole  world  into  a  common  brotherhood 
of  intelligence.  It  is  the  hand-servant  of  every  progressive  industry. 
Many  could  not  exist  without  it.  Think  of  the  newspaper  without  its 
telegraph  wires,  the  railroads,  the  business  world,  the  armies,  the  navies, 
the  governments,  or  any  other  phase  of  our  modern  life.  The  mammoth 
railroad  system  of  the  earth  never  could  have  been  developed  without  the 
telegraph.  The  telegraph  is  the  eyes  and  ears  of  the  railroad,  for  the 
railroad  is  as  dependent  on  these  as  a  man  on  his  senses  for  the  protection 
of  his  body. 

There  are  now  325,000  miles  of  telegraph  wires  over  which  were  sent 
last  year  90,000,000  messages.  Some  of  these  lines  have  more  than  a 
hundred  separate  wires  and  are  attached  to  instruments  sending  as  fast  as 
twelve  words  to  the  second.  These  90,000,000  messages  range  from  a 
page  of  7,000  words  in  a  newspaper  to  the  short  ten  word  message.  If  all 
these  messages  were  only  of  ten  words  in  length,  they  would  amount  to 
900,000,000.  If  they  average  100  words  they  would  rise  to  9,000,000,- 
ooo.  They  do  probably  average  50  words  for  there  is  now  an  immense 
service  of  long  cheap  night  letters  and  the  volume  of  business  of  the  press 
associations  and  special  news  is  growing  at  a  rapid  rate.  This  vast 
aggregate  of  messages  does  not  include  the  business  of  the  railroads. 

Within  the  last  five  years  the  words  sent  over  the  telegraph  wires 
within  the  United  States  would  more  than  fill  every  book  in  the  New  York 
Public  Library.  It  would  rival  the  number  of  words  in  the  books  of  the 
British  Museum.  These  messages  are  coming  by  the  tens  of  thousands  at 
every  tick  of  the  watch  in  the  twenty-four  hours  of  the  day,  and  the 
young  army  of  60,000  messenger  boys  are  delivering  them  in  ten  thousand 
cities,  towns  and  hamlets  in  this  country.  These  telegraph  messengers 
visit  more  people  in  a  day  than  any  other  group  of  employees  not  even 
excepting  the  postmen. 

A  single  American  telegraph  company  has  a  sufficient  length  of  wires 

207 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

woven  all  over  the  United  States  to  form  three  telegraph  systems,  allowing 
two  wires  to  each,  to  reach  to  the  moon.  Even  then,  there  would  be  enough 
left  to  wrap  eight  times  around  the  earth  at  the  Equator.  Even  this  would 
not  use  it  all,  and  the  balance  would  form  a  line  from  New  York,  across 
Europe  and  Asia  and  beyond  to  San  Francisco.  There  are  about  100,000,- 
ooo  people  in  our  nation;  if  these  telegraph  wires  were  divided  equally 
among  the  Americans,  each  one,  irrespective  of  age  or  sex,  would  have  a 
line  837  feet  long.  This  one  company  has  more  telegraph  offices  in  this 
country  than  there  are  dwellings  in  the  State  of  Nevada. 

The  wizardry  of  the  telegraph  was  well  tested  when  Great  Britain's 
ruler,  King  Edward,  died  at  midnight  of  May  6th,  1910.  In  New  York 
the  people  on  the  streets  read  of  his  death  four  hours  before  that  time. 
This  is  accounted  for  by  the  difference  in  time  between  London  and  New 
York  and  the  genius  of  the  telegraph.  Compare  this  with  the  experience  of 
our  grandfathers  and  you  can  understand  what  the  electric  telegraph  means 
to  modern  civilization.  In  their  generation,  King  William  IV,  great- 
uncle  of  Edward,  died  co-incidentally  with  the  birth  of  the  electro-magnetic 
telegraph.  The  news  did  not  reach  this  country  until  about  three  weeks 
had  passed,  though  swift  messengers  carried  the  news  to  the  seaside,  from 
whence  steamships  raced  across  the  Atlantic. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  mention  the  name  of  the  inventor  of  the 
telegraph — it  is  a  household  word.  To  tell  the  development  of  the  idea 
of  the  telegraph  is  to  relate  the  history  of  civilization.  From  the  time  man 
began  to  write  or  communicate,  he  strove  to  increase  the  distances.  The 
word  telegraph,  taken  from  the  Greek  language,  literally  means  "far  writ- 
ing." History  tells  of  the  Greeks  signalling  by  torch,  of  the  Romans'  fleet 
messengers,  and  of  Napoleon's  semaphores.  It  tells  how  electricity  was 
discovered,  and  how  scientists  discovered  many  new  uses  for  it,  and  de- 
veloped those  elements  which  the  American  genius  of  the  telegraph  was  to 
have  at  his  command  enabling  him  to  send  messages  over  a  copper  wire  to 
almost  any  distance.  To-day  one  can  telegraph  around  the  earth  within 
thirty  minutes. 

The  man  who  placed  the  world  under  obligation  to  him  for  permitting 
it  to  flash  a  letter  to  China,  or  a  million  dollar  business  contract  to  Russia 
or  Timbuctoo,  was  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  the  inventor  of  the  telegraph  pen- 
cil. As  a  boy,  he  had  studied  Franklin's  discovery  that  electricity  could  be 
conveyed  by  a  metal  rod  or  wire.  But  he  dropped  the  subject  and  became  a 
painter  of  portraits,  and  for  a  time  eked  out  an  existence  with  his  brush. 
Then  his  friend,  Freeman  Dana,  interested  him  in  electro  magnetism  and 
led  him  to  investigate  the  subject.  On  the  way  back  from  Europe,  where 
he  had  gone  to  study  electrical  science,  he  developed  the  idea  of  a  small 

208 


ATHLETIC   SPORTS  IX  AMERICA — Glimpse  of  70.000  people  watching  a  football  game  at  the 
famous  "bowl"  at  Yale  University — The  National  game  of  the  American  people  is  base- 
ball— Athletic  contests  are  important  events  in  various  parts  of  the  country. 


GREAT  UNIVERSITIES  OF  MIDDLE  WEST — University  of  Chicago  has  more  than  8,000  students 
— The  present  institution   was  chartered  in   IH'tO — Women   are  admitted  to  all  depart- 
ments of  the   University — First   to  establish    a   university   extension   course. 


STATE    CAPITOL    AT    AUGUSTA,    MAINK— This    State    has    an    area    of    .S:5,04()    squ 
(larger  than  Ireland) — Its  population  is  74L',.'?71    (nearly  equal  to  the  Repulmi 
of  Santo  Domingo  and  British   Honduras) — Admitted  in   1820. 


re    miles 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  P.OSTOX,   MASSACHUSETTS— This  State  has  area   of  S.2GG  square  miles 

(larger  than    Porto   Rico  and   Cyprus   combined) — Population   3.3:'>G,41G    (larger 

than    Xorway    and    Xe\v    Zealand    comMnod  I — Original    State   in    17S.S. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INVENTIONS 

telegraphic  apparatus  with  notations.  He  reached  Washington  and  asked 
Congress  to  aid  him  in  constructing  a  telegraph  line  between  that  city  and 
Baltimore.  Both  England  and  France  refused  him  a  patent.  He  had  be- 
come penniless,  but  he  fought  Congress  until,  five  years  later,  it  granted 
him  an  appropriation  to  build  a  line  between  Baltimore  and  Washington. 
His  first  message,  "What  hath  God  wrought?"  was  flashed  across  the  wire 
in  1844.  Congress  was  unable  to  appreciate  the  value  of  the  telegraph 
and  the  Postmaster-General  declared  that  the  revenue  could  not  be  made 
equal  to  the  money  necessary  to  construct  the  lines.  Hence,  the  invention 
was  developed  by  private  ownership  and  the  telegraph  property  hi  the 
United  States  alone  is  worth  to-day  over  $500,000,000. 

The  laying  of  the  mighty  Atlantic  cable  is  a  familiar  story  to  the 
average  American.  It  is  this  great  telegraphic  agent  which  has  literally 
swept  away  the  watery  barrier  to  the  conveying  of  information  between  the 
New  World  and  the  Old.  Another  of  these  great  wizards  is  the  Wireless 
telegraph,  a  name  synonymous  with  that  of  its  invention,  Marconi,  an 
Italian,  who  is  working  out  his  problem  in  America.  Seldom  is  it  the  for- 
tune of  the  inventions  to  have  such  dramatic  baptisms  as  that  which  at- 
tended the  introduction  of  the  wireless  telegraph  to  an  incredulous  world. 
Everyone  recalls  how  its  mysterious  electric  spark  leaped  out  of  the  dark 
night  from  the  deck  of  the  foundering  Republic,  when  she  was  rammed  by 
the  Florida  in  1909,  circled  in  eddying  waves  from  the  depths  of  the  sea 
to  the  Nantucket  shore  and  to  those  vessels  equipped  with  wireless  ap- 
paratus and  within  range  of  its  appeal,  and  how  help  was  rushed  to  the 
sinking  ship  in  time  to  rescue  more  than  a  thousand  lives  from  a  watery 
grave.  That  was  but  one  of  the  many  services  it  renders  to  humanity, 
as  men  become  more  acquainted  with  its  powers.  It  was  in  1913  that  the 
world  was  again  astonished  by  its  powers.  Then  the  mighty  Government 
station  at  Arlington,  in  the  shadow  of  the  National  Capitol,  succeeded  in 
sending  and  receiving  a  message  from  Italy  on  the  Mediterranean. 

American  Genius  Hurls  Human  Voice  Over  the  Earth — the  Telephone 

THEN  comes  the  telephone  to  hurl  the  human  voice  around  the 
earth.     The  telephone  is  an  extension  of  the  telegraph  but  in 
the  United  States  the  child  has  outgrown  its  father,  and  this 
country  has  more  telephones  than  all  England,  Germany  and  France  com- 
bined.    The  telephone  is  more  American  in  its  origin  than  even  the  tele- 
graph.    It  was  not  only  an  American  that  invented  it  but  every  improve- 
ment that  has  made  the  telephone  what  it  is  now,  one  of  the  most  indis- 
pensable necessities  of  civilization,  has  been  effected  by  American  inventors. 
The  whole  world  now  has  about  15,000,000  telephones,  10,000,000 

211 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

or  two-thirds  of  which  are  in  America.  Germany  has  1,500,000,  Great 
Britain  800,000,  France  600,000.  The  length  of  the  wire  used  throughout 
the  world  is  80,000,000  miles.  Of  this  mileage  the  United  States  had 
16,000,000  miles  last  year.  Over  this  world  mileage  25,000,000  conver- 
sations passed,  1 5,000,000  of  which  were  in  this  country. 

Nowhere  else  does  the  telephone  work  so  fast  as  it  does  in  America. 
It  takes  a  man  in  Paris  seven  and  one-half  times  as  long  to  speak  to  another 
man  over  the  telephone  as  it  does  in  New  York.  In  New  York  the  average 
time  is  eleven  seconds  while  the  Parisian  has  to  wait  one  minute  and  twenty- 
eight  seconds.  New  York  now  beats  London  within  the  Metropolitan  dis- 
tricts but  to  nearby  towns  London  holds  the  record.  In  long  distance  calls 
as  far  as  Buffalo,  Chicago,  St.  Louis  and  Atlanta,  New  York  ranks  first. 
It  takes  Rome  an  hour  to  reach  Berlin,  or  Berlin  half  an  hour  to  reach 
Vienna.  After  9  p.  M.  long  distance  telephony  is  closed  between  the 
smaller  cities  of  Europe.  You  may  thus  see  the  value  of  time  in  America 
as  compared  to  Europe. 

New  York  now  has  more  than  800,000  telephones,  London  300,000, 
Berlin  200,000,  Paris  100,000.  New  York's  5,000,000  population  has 
200,000  more  telephones  than  12,000,000  population  of  the  three  first 
cities  of  Europe.  New  York  now  calls  over  the  telephone  2,500,000  times 
every  day.  New  York  is  the  telephone  capital  of  the  world.  So  depend- 
ent is  business  on  telephones  that  if  all  the  telephones  were  to  stop  for 
twenty-four  hours  there  would  be  a  panic.  In  the  two  telephone  systems 
in  America  more  than  $1,000,000,000  are  invested.  The  salaried  em- 
ployees number  35,000— the  salaries  $25,000,000  per  year.  The  wage 
earners  125,000,  the  wages  paid  $62,000,000,  the  income  is  $200,000,000. 

The  name,  literally  meaning  "a  voice  from  afar"  is  taken  from  the 
Greek.  It  developed  from  one  of  those  accidental  discoveries;  Alexander 
Graham  Bell  and  his  assistant,  Thomas  Watson,  were  experimenting  with  a 
multiple  telegraph  in  1875  m  Boston,  when  the  latter,  standing  before  one 
of  the  telegraph  instruments,  suddenly  heard  Bell's  voice  as  though  the 
speaker  were  at  his  elbow,  though  actually  he  was  in  another  part  of  the 
shop.  They  investigated  and  were  startled  to  find  that  they  had  solved 
the  principle  of  conveying  speech  by  telegraph,  as  they  first  called  it.  It 
is  for  that  wonderful  discovery  that  Bell's  name  will  ring  down  through  the 
ages.  He  accomplished  what  hundreds  of  other  scientists  had  tried  to  do 
since  Sir  Charles  Wheatstone,  the  English  scientist,  began  the  pioneer  ex- 
periments in  the  same  year  that  the  first  steamship,  the  Savannah,  crossed 
the  Atlantic,  1819. 

Among  other  great  inventors  working  on  this  problem  were  Edison, 
Bell,  Gray  and  Dolbar.  Bell  discovered  the  fundamental  principles  of 

212 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INVENTIONS 

transmitting  and  receiving  the  human  voice.  Every  valuable  improve- 
ment made  on  Bell's  model  is  American;  they  are  the  transmitter,  the 
instrument  ridding  the  wire  of  the  sound  of  the  earth  noise,  the  invention 
of  the  switchboard,  the  discovery  of  the  phantom  circuit,  the  hardening  of 
the  copper  wire  so  that  it  would  stand  up  on  long  distances  and  magnetiz- 
ing it  so  as  to  increase  its  efficiency.  Every  one  of  these  discoveries  was  an 
achievement  of  great  magnitude  for  as  a  result  long  distance  telephony  has 
come. 

When  we  speak  of  the  telephone  our  earth  is  not  large  enough  to  allow 
adequate  comparisons.  Mars'  luminous  rays  of  light  are  something  like 
35,000,000  miles  away  from  the  earth  when  it  is  nearest  to  us.  The 
telephone  wires  radiating  throughout  the  world  are  long  enough  to  reach 
to  Mars  and  back  to  the  earth  again,  and  there  would  still  be  6,000,000 
miles  left  with  which  to  drape  festoons  to  the  moon.  Of  this  the  United 
States  has  about  one-sixth  strung  throughout  the  nation,  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific  and  from  the  Gulf  to  the  Canadian  border.  Each  year  a 
forest  of  over  a  million  trees  is  leveled  to  supply  the  poles  we  require  for 
new  systems  and  to  replace  old  poles. 

Modern  business  could  not  be  conducted  in  its  modem  proportions 
without  the  telephone.  There  are  in  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange  nearly 
650  private  telephones,  over  which  each  of  the  brokers  sends  at  least 
50,000  cryptic  messages,  involving  millions  of  dollars,  every  twelve-month. 
Think  of  what  it  means  to  the  modern  newspaper.  One  metropolitan 
paper  has  twenty  trunk  lines  and  eighty  telephones,  over  which  are  dis- 
patched 200,000  calls,  and  300,000  more  are  received  every  year.  It  has 
revolutionized  the  reportorial  end  of  the  industry;  one  reporter  runs  for 
the  news,  and  then  telephones  it  in  to  another  who  writes  it.  The  tele- 
phone has  become  as  indispensable  in  modern  warfare  as  the  artillery  itself. 
Witness,  in  the  Russo-Japanese  War,  the  battle  of  Mukden,  where  150 
miles  of  telephone  wire  stretched  across  the  field  between  the  loo-mile 
crescent  of  Japanese  soldiers  storming  the  foe  and  the  Japanese  generals 
standing  miles  in  the  rear,  but  directing  the  assaults  as  clearly  and  ac- 
curately as  though  they  stood  at  the  head  of  their  troops.  It  also  performs 
a  great  secret  part  in  the  European  War.  To  take  the  telephone  away 
from  the  business  world  would  be  to  stop  its  ears  and  cut  out  its  tongue. 
It  would  paralyze  every  great  modem  center  on  the  earth. 

The  telephone  is  now  entering  upon  a  new  era — the  age  of  wireless 
telephony.  Messages  were  sent  during  1915  across  the  continent  and 
across  the  oceans  on  sound  waves.  The  time  is  probably  coming  when 
the  human  voice  will  be  hurled  around  the  earth.  This  is  the  next 
progressive  step  in  the  development  of  telephony. 

213 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

American  Genius  Lights  the  World's  Cities 

IT  is  the  Americans  that  solved  the  problem  of  "turning  night  into  the 
lightness  of  day."  Darkness  is  driven  from  the  face  of  the  earth 
wherever  or  whenever  we  decide  to  do  it.  By  the  mere  touch  of  the 
finger  on  a  button  whole  cities  are  aroused  from  their  slumbers  into  a  blaze 
of  light,  and  lie  before  us  like  fairylands.  The  Creator  made  the  sun  to 
shine  by  day,  and  the  moon  and  stars  to  shine  by  night.  And  man  dis- 
covered that  what  work  he  had  to  do  must  be  done  by  day.  He,  the  Cre- 
ator, also  made  man  tremendously  ambitious.  Moreover,  He  endowed 
him  with  the  power  to  work  out  the  solution  of  his  own  happiness. 

Man  soon  came  to  feel  that  night  was  somewhat  of  a  burden  to  him. 
When  the  sun  had  set  there  was  nothing  for  him  to  do  but  sit  in  darkness 
or  go  to  sleep.  So  he  decided  to  see  what  he  could  do  to  make  light  for 
himself;  and  his  success  has  been  astounding.  By  the  time  of  the  Pharaohs, 
bundles  of  wood  were  being  dipped  in  grease  to  make  flaming  torches. 
Then,  a  thousand  years  later,  some  shrewd  person  invented  candles.  Wax 
candles  began  to  appear  at  great  State  functions  and  at  religious  cere- 
monials. The  candle  consisted  of  a  reed  that  had  been  coated  with  fat. 
This  was  held  in  an  iron  clamp,  so  that  the  burning  end  would  be  kept 
upright.  When  it  was  desired  to  obtain  more  light  from  the  one  candle, 
both  ends  were  lighted.  From  this  came  the  phrase,  "burning  the  candle 
at  both  ends."  After  a  while,  men  learned  to  refine  tallow,  and  this  solved 
the  candle  problem.  But  the  ingenuity  of  man  never  ceases.  About  this 
time  someone  created  a  crude  device  for  burning  a  wick  soaked  with  grease 
or  oil.  It  was  called  a  lamp. 

The  first  lamp  was  a  hollowed  receptacle.  It  was  made  of  stone,  a 
gourd,  a  shell,  or  a  piece  of  bone.  Oil  or  refined  grease  was  poured  into 
the  hollow.  A  wick  of  moss  or  other  vegetable  matter  was  used  to  absorb 
the  grease.  The  tip  of  the  wick  was  then  lighted  and  gave  a  glowing 
flame.  The  Greeks  and  Romans  substituted  metal  receptacles.  With 
their  artistic  capabilities  they  were  able  to  make  lamps  of  very  beautiful 
designs.  It  was  an  American,  Benjamin  Franklin,  who  first  proposed  the 
hempen  wick,  but  lamps  were  still  without  chimneys.  One  day  a  French- 
man was  holding  a  bottle  near  a  lamp.  The  bottom  of  the  bottle  was 
suddenly  cracked  off  by  the  heat,  and  his  fingers  were  burned.  Quickly 
setting  the  bottomless  bottle  down,  he  placed  it  accidentally  over  the  burn- 
ing wick.  He  was  amazed  as  he  saw  the  effect.  The  light  immediately 
grew  brighter  and  burned  more  steadily.  From  that  day  onward  we  have 
had  lamp  chimneys.  The  chimney  lamp  was  supposed  to  be  a  wonderful 
invention,  and  no  doubt  it  was ;  but  to-day  we  regard  it  as  a  most  primitive 

214 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  CONCORD,  NEW   HAMPSHIRE — This   State  has  an  area  of  9,:?41   square 

miles  (larger  than  the  Republic  of  Salvador)' — Its  population  is  430,572  (larger  than 

South  Australia) — Original  State  admitted  in  1788. 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  MONTPELIEK,  VERMONT— Tills  State  has  an  arou  of  n,.r)(!4  square  miles 

(larger  than   Porto  Rico  and  Alsace-Lorraine)  —  Its  population   is  355.95Q 

(larger  than  Abyssinia) — Admitted  to  the  Union  in  1791, 


STATIC    CAPITOL   AT    IIAIJTF*  )KI>.    OONNKCTICT'T — This    State   has    an    area   of   4.1 
miles   (larger  than  P.ritish  Island  of  Jamaica) — Its  population  is  1,114,570 
(larger  than   Now   Zealand) — Original    State  in   1788. 


square 


STATK  CAPITOL  AT  PROVIDENCE,   UIIOI>E  ISLAND-^-This  State  has  an  area  of  1.:>4.S  square 

miles    (nearly  as  large  as   Luxemburg  and   Hong  Kong  combined  I — Its  population  is 

04l',(>10  (nearly  as  larger  us  Itcuublic  of  Honduras) — Original  State  in  1790, 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INVENTIONS 

thing.  It  requires  much  cleaning  and  care;  the  wick  had  to  be  trimmed 
regularly,  and  the  chimney  was  broken  with  discouraging  frequency. 
With  the  discovery  of  oil  and  kerosene  came  the  dangers  of  exploding  and 
catching  fire.  Thousands  of  lives  were  sacrificed  through  accidents  with 
chimney  lamps,  and  nothing  was  ever  discovered  which  would  make  them 
safer. 

American  inventive  genius  found  the  solution.  It  was  in  1865  that 
Professor  T.  S.  C.  Lowe,  who  had  already  won  fame  for  his  aeronautical 
exploits  in  the  Civil  War,  discovered  how  to  get  water  gas  from  coal. 
That  same  year  he  erected  the  first  central  gas  plant  in  the  world.  The 
gas,  after  it  was  generated,  was  sent  into  an  immense  tank,  and  from  this 
it  was  distributed  by  iron  piping  to  homes  and  factories.  Gas  lighting 
as  an  institution  owes  its  greatest  development  to  Americans.  It  was 
thought  at  that  time  that  this  was  the  last  great  improvement  that  could 
possibly  be  made  in  connection  with  artificial  lighting.  It  was  only  neces- 
sary to  turn  a  stop-cock  and  apply  a  match — and  there  was  illumination. 
The  cost  was  not  great  and  the  convenience  was  wonderful.  Gas  lighting 
was  at  first  a  luxury  to  be  found  only  in  mansions  and  palaces.  Soon  it 
was  put  in  even  modest  homes,  and  the  streets  began  to  be  lighted  by  it. 

But  the  last  word  in  lighting  had  not  yet  been  said.  The  time  was 
to  come  when  gas  light  was  to  be  as  old-fashioned  as  candle  light.  It  was 
in  1879  th^  the  American  wizard  of  wizards,  Thomas  A.  Edison,  revealed 
the  secret.  He  took  a  glass  bulb  from  which  the  air  had  been  drawn. 
Then  he  placed  a  filament  of  carbon  in  it  so  arranged  that  an  electric  cur- 
rent could  be  passed  through  it.  Behind,  the  filament  burst  into  light  and 
glowed  brightly.  This  was  the  first  electric  light  for  practical  home  pur- 
poses. It  was  made  to  give  a  light  equal  to  about  eight  candles.  The 
old-fashioned  gas  jet  gave  about  that  amount  of  light,  so  it  now  had  a  rival. 

The  world  figuratively  sat  up  and  rubbed  its  eyes.  For  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  civilization,  man  was  in  possession  of  a  practical  light 
that  was  not  produced  by  combustion  of  anything.  It  burned,  or  rather 
glowed,  without  the  slightest  nicker;  there  was  no  smoke;  it  gave  off  very 
little  heat,  and  it  would  not  be  blown  out.  All  that  was  needed  to  carry 
it  into  any  house  was  a  double  line  of  wire  that  could  be  very  easily  strung 
from  the  central  power  plant.  Now,  for  the  time,  rural  districts  as  well 
as  cities  could  be  brought  into  the  new  "darkless  age."  Gas  lighting  had 
never  been  practical  except  in  cities,  and  the  farmer  still  was  forced  to  use 
oil  lamps — until  the  coming  of  the  electric  light. 

The  great  modern  city,  with  its  tens  of  thousands  of  night  workers, 
would  be  well-nigh  impossible  without  electric  light.  It  has  reduced  crime 
in  the  streets  of  great  cities  fifteen  per  cent,  and  increased  the  service  of 

217 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

the  streets  at  night  thirty  per  cent.  The  first  electric  street  light  was  the 
invention  of  Charles  Brush,  the  noted  electrical  engineer  of  Cleveland, 
Ohio.  He  lighted  his  lamp  by  means  of  a  carbonized  filament.  The 
electric  light  has  been  further  greatly  improved  by  the  substitution  of  the 
Tungsten  filament  for  the  carbonized  filament. 

Through  the  electric  light,  man's  activity  has  been  doubled.  Former 
civilizations  may  have  excelled  in  some  respects,  but  ours  has  seen  the  end 
of  superstition  and  has  shorn  night  of  its  illusions  and  terrors.  Modern 
lighting  is  nothing  less  than  magical.  Gigantic  chandeliers  light  our  halls 
with  even  greater  brilliance  than  comes  with  the  daylight.  Our  streets  are 
very  nearly  as  bright  at  midnight  as  they  are  at  noon.  On  our  coasts  stand 
lighthouses  with  beacons  that  may  be  seen  fifteen  miles  away.  In  our 
forts  are  searchlights  which  may  pick  up  and  illuminate  ships  ten  miles 
out  at  sea. 

Where  has  the  world  seen  such  magic  before?  A  man  in  a  power 
house  turns  a  switch  and  a  home  many  miles  away  is  lighted.  The  turn 
of  another  switch — and  the  streets  of  a  whole  city  with  millions  of  in- 
habitants burst  into  radiance.  The  turn  of  still  another  switch  sends  a 
flood  of  light  under  the  earth  into  the  tunnels  of  the  city  where  trains  roar 
under  the  same  power  of  electricity.  Again,  the  turn  of  a  switch  lights  up 
hundreds  of  miles  of  country  roads.  As  late  as  the  Eighteenth  Century  any 
man  who  had  declared  that  such  a  thing  might  be  might  have  been  prose- 
cuted as  a  madman  or  as  a  practitioner  to  the  "black  art."  Lincoln,  as  a 
boy,  studied  by  the  light  of  a  wood  fire ;  yet  many  of  his  contemporaries  are 
still  living.  In  two  generations  the  electric  light  has  completely  revolu- 
tionized the  life  of  man. 

American  Genius  Immortalizes  Human  Voice — the  Phonograph 

PERHAPS  the  most  miraculous  of  all  the  American  inventions — 
the  one  that  raises  man  to  the  planes  of  immortality — is  the  phono- 
graph. Though  mortal  man  may  die,  his  voice  lives  forever 
through  the  agency  of  this  American  invention.  Through  its  weird  power 
a  man's  voice  may  sing  his  favorite  song  over  his  own  body  as  it  is  laid  in 
the  grave;  the  wife  touches  a  lever  of  this  machine  and  again  hears  her 
husband's  voice,  though  he  has  been  buried  beneath  the  earth  for  years. 
The  inspiring  notes  of  the  world's  greatest  musicians  have  been  captured 
and  locked  within  this  miraculous  talking  machine — Caruso,  Patti,  Calve, 
Tetrazzini,  Sembrich,  Paderewski,  Kubelik,  and  scores  of  others  have  given 
their  greatest  masterpieces  to  the  machine  which  will  preserve  them  for 
future  generations.  The  voice-records  of  the  contemporary  singers,  musi- 
cians, and  statesmen  are  being  taken  upon  imperishable  records,  and  stored 

218 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INVENTIONS 

in  air-tight  metallic  cases,  within  hermetically  sealed  vaults,  which  are  not 
to  be  opened  for  at  least  one  hundred  years.  Think  what  it  would  mean  to 
the  American  to  hear  the  inspiring  voice  of  Washington,  as  he  bade  fare- 
well to  his  officers  of  the  American  Revolution;  or  the  thrilling  voice  of 
Lincoln,  as  it  swept  out  over  the  battlefield  of  Gettysburg;  or  the  patriotic 
voice  of  Patrick  Henry,  or  Henry  Clay,  or  Webster,  or  Calhoun,  as  they 
swayed  the  destiny  of  the  nation  with  their  magical  utterances. 

The  invention  of  the  phonograph  is  a  product  of  Thomas  A.  Edison's 
genius.  Its  great  principle  is  that  of  fixing  and  storing  sound  in  dense 
matter  for  reproduction.  The  wonderful  possibilities  of  this  principle  are 
not  fully  dreamed  of  as  yet.  Science  is  already  aware  that  all  matter  fixes 
sound  within  it,  but  we  must  know  how  to  reproduce  the  sound.  The  wall 
of  a  house  undoubtedly  contains  the  sound  of  the  speech  of  one  who  spoke 
there  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  years  ago. 

Edison  invented  the  magic  "box  of  wood,  mechanism,  and  mica,"  as  it 
has  been  called,  in  the  same  year  that  Alexander  Bell  completed  his  tele- 
phone. It  was  accidental,  in  a  way,  for  he  was  working  to  perfect  the 
sending  instrument  of  the  telegraph,  when  he  suddenly  found  that  he  had 
almost  unconsciously  unearthed  the  secret  for  which  scores  of  Europeans 
had  been  striving  for  a  century.  But  there  was  one  thing  that  stood  be- 
tween him  and  success — the  cylinder,  or  record,  which  he  had  wrapped  with 
tin-foil  and  which  proved  unpractical.  It  was  Alexander  Bell  and  Sumner 
Tainter  who  contrived  the  wax  record,  using  it  on  their  machine,  which 
they  called  the  graphophone,  in  the  year  1885,  eight  years  after  Edison's 
phonograph.  Two  years  after  the  birth  of  the  graphophone,  the  European, 
Emile  Berliner,  produced  the  gramophone. 

American  Genius  Regenerates  Trade — the  Typewriter 

IT  was  an  American  who  revolutionized  the  whole  business  world,  who 
increased  the  productivity  and  capacity  of  business  more  than  a  hun- 
dred fold  when  he  gave  to  the  world  the  typewriter.     It  has  been  the 
economic  emancipator  of  woman — through  the  typewriter  the  American 
woman  has  entered  into  the  business  world  as  a  strong  factor.     It  gives 
employment  to  a  feminine  army  larger  than  that  with  which  Wellington 
crushed  Napoleon  at  Waterloo ;  or  a  host  more  numerous  than  that  which 
was  mustered  under  the  standards  of  the  French  and  Allies  at  Leipsic — 
said  to  have  been  the  largest  gathering  of  armed  troops  on  a  European 
battlefield  until  the  present  European  War. 

The  typewriter  received  its  first  public  recognition  at  the  time  when 
we  were  celebrating  our  first  hundredth  national  birthday,  in  1876.  It 
is  only  during  the  past  few  decades  that  it  has  been  in  general  use.  To- 

219 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

day  the  modem  business  world  is  dependent  upon  the  typewriter  and  could 
not  continue  if  compelled  to  go  back  to  using  pens  and  pencils  to  write  out 
correspondence  by  hand. 

The  American,  W.  A.  Burt,  made  the  first  machine  in  our  country 
about  the  time  we  were  laying  our  first  railroads,  but  his  machine  proved 
impracticable,  as  did  those  of  many  of  his  followers.  It  was  the  American, 
Charles  Latham  Sholes,  who  has  the  honor  of  inventing  the  first  practical 
machine,  beginning  his  work  in  1868  and  spending  the  following  eight 
years  before  he  was  successful,  until  finally  his  machine  was  introduced  to 
the  world  in  1876.  The  first  machines  placed  on  the  market  were  made  in 
Milwaukee.  The  typewriter  is  literally  the  right  hand  of  the  whole  busi- 
ness world.  Nowhere  where  money  goes  and  trade  flourishes  is  man  with- 
out the  typewriter.  Every  language  with  its  distinct  letters  has  its  type- 
writer, as  it  has  its  Bible. 

American  Genius  Emancipates  Woman — the  Sewing  Machine 

WHAT  American  invention  has  done  the  most  for  the  women  of 
the  entire  world?  The  answer  is  plain — the  sewing  machine. 
It  is  indeed  the  great  benefactor  of  woman.  No  invention 
has  done  so  much  to  deliver  woman  from  drudgery.  No  one  piece  of  ma- 
chinery has  done  so  much  to  deliver  her  from  her  burdens,  her  seclusion, 
her  serfdom.  Fifty  years  ago,  more  than  half  the  people  of  Europe  and 
America  went  barefooted  half  the  year.  The  sewing  machine  has  changed 
all  that — and  it  has  prolonged  millions  of  lives.  It  has  broken  up  harems 
in  Turkey;  it  has  lifted  the  veil  from  many  feminine  faces  in  the  Orient. 
This  wonderful  machine,  which  has  changed  the  habits  and  customs,  and 
even  the  personal  appearance,  of  the  people  of  the  earth,  is  the  product 
of  American  genius  and  American  skill.  It  took  many  minds,  and  more 
than  a  hundred  years,  to  invent  and  perfect  it.  The  history  of  no  inven- 
tion is  more  replete  with  effort  and  disappointment.  It  is  not  known  how 
many  men  tried  to  construct  and  improve  it,  but  there  have  been  at  least 
25,000  patents  recorded  on  the  sewing  machine  and  its  attachments.  In 
this  respect  only  the  steam  engine  surpasses  it.  It  was  the  dream  of  early 
England,  but  it  required  America  to  bring  it  into  realization. 

The  first  lock-stitch  machine  was  made  in  New  York,  in  1832,  by 
Walter  Hunt,  but  he  failed  to  perfect  his  idea  or  to  have  it  patented,  and 
thus  lost  the  credit  and  the  fortune.  It  remained  for  another  American,  a 
farmer's  boy,  to  give  the  sewing  machine  to  a  waiting  world.  His  name 
was  Eli  as  Howe,  and  he  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Spencer,  Massachusetts,  in 
1819.  He  lived  with  his  father,  working  upon  the  land  and  in  the  grain 
mill,  until  he  was  seventeen  years  of  age,  and  attended  the  district  school 

220 


STATE   CAPITOL  AT  ALBANY,   NEW   YORK — This   State   has  an   area  of  49,204   square  miles 

(larger  than  Ireland  and  Switzerland  combined) — Its  population  is  9,113,279  (about 

equal  to  the  Persian  Empire.) — Original   State  in  1788. 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT' TRENTON,  NEW  JERSEY— This  State  has  nn  area  of  8,224  square  miles 

(about  equal  to  Saxony  and  Oldenburg  combined) — Its  population  is  2,537,107  (larger 

than  Norway  or  liolivia) — Original  State  admitted  to  Union   in   1787. 


FIUST  KKCKI'TIOX  OF  Till-:   IIUST   LADY  OF  TFIF   KKITHLIC   -Tnis    historic    onwravinf,'    by    Seitz    portrays    the 
brilliant  reception  jiiv«-n  to  Martha  Washington  during  tho  Inaugural  of  her  husband  as  first  president 
of  the  United  States.     Jt  was  attended  by  the  aristocracy  of  the  New  World. 


MLLIANT  SCENE  IN  THE  BIRTH  OF  DEMOCRACY — Tiie  wife  of  Washington  arrived  nt  the  inaugural  ceremoni 

accompanied  by  a  cavalcade  of  gentlemen  and  brilliant  women  in  carriages — The  thunder  of  13  cannon 

welcomed  her  at  the  battery  in  New  York — The  throngs  paid  her  homage. 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  COLUMBUS,  OHIO — This  State  has  an  area  of  41,040  square  miles   (about 

equal  to   Scotland  and   Belgium  combined)  —Its   population  is  4,7(17,121    (largej 

than   Greece,  or   I'eru,   o.-  Lulguria) — Admitted   in   1V03. 


STATE    CAPITOL    AT    HARRISBURG,    PEXXSYLVANIA— This    State    has    an    area    of    45,1-0 

square  miles    (about  equal  to  Scotland  and   Denmark  combined) — Its  population   is 

7,Gt>.'.,ili   (about  equal  to  Norway  and  Sweden) — Original  State  in  1787. 


during  the  winters.  Then  he  learned  the  trade  of  machinist.  It  was  in 
1846,  when  Elias  Howe  was  27  years  old,  that  he  announced  that  he  had 
solved  the  problem  of  the  sewing-machine. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  a  remarkable  career,  in  which  he  fought 
and  overcame  many  obstacles.  He  constructed  four  machines  and  then 
went  to  England  to  introduce  them  into  that  country.  He  sold  out  his 
English  rights  to  a  corset  manufacturer  for  a  few  hundred  dollars  and 
worked  in  this  man's  shop  with  his  primitive  machine.  Two  years  later, 
he  learned  that  his  patents  were  being  seriously  contested  in  Boston  and 
returned  to  that  city.  He  was  penniless,  and  for  months  the  inventor  of 
the  lock-stitch  needle  fought  with  his  back  to  the  wall.  He  found  it  neces- 
sary to  resume  his  trade  as  a  machinist  to  keep  his  family  from  starving. 
Greedy  inventors  began  to  infringe  his  patents,  and  expensive  lawsuits 
kept  him  in  poverty  for  several  years. 

It  was  not  until  1854  that  his  claims  were  firmly  established  and  his 
patent  rights  acknowledged.  Then  began  the  royalties  that  were  to  be 
his  reward.  When  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  his  heart  was  stirred  with 
patriotism,  and  he  enlisted  as  a  volunteer.  Honors  began  to  pour  upon 
him.  He  was  the  recipient  of  many  medals  and  the  Cross  of  the  Legion 
of  Honor.  Twenty  years  after  his  invention,  he  was  a  millionaire,  and 
his  lock-stitch  needle,  though  apparently  a  very  simple  invention,  has  given 
him  rank  as  one  of  the  world's  greatest  mechanical  geniuses. 

Ingenious  American  brains  finished  the  invention.  John  Bachelder, 
a  well-to-do  Boston  merchant,  was  quick  to  perceive  what  Howe's  machine 
needed  to  make  it  a  wonder-worker.  He  sold  his  prosperous  business,  set 
up  a  machine  shop,  and  undertook  to  build  a  machine  that  had  a  horizontal 
head-piece  or  table,  on  which  the  material  to  be  sewn  was  supported; 
Howe's  bent  needle  was  straightened  into  a  perpendicular  one  with  an  eye 
point;  it  was  given  a  needle  plate,  a  continuous  feed,  and  a  device  for 
pressing  down  the  cloth  while  in  the  vicinity  of  the  needle — five  vital 
points.  With  these  improvements,  the  great  American  sewing-machine 
was  on  its  way  to  perfection.  A  few  years  later,  an  improvement  was 
added  by  Isaac  Singer,  a  New  York  mechanic.  Then  came  A.  B.  Wilson, 
who  practically  completed  the  leading  principles  of  the  sewing-machine. 
What  have  been  added  since  are  minor  features  and  improvements. 

Thus  the  sewing-machine  was  evolved  by  slow  degrees  and  at  the  close 
of  the  Civil  War  its  sale  had  grown  to  a  considerable  business.  It  played 
its  part  in  making  clothing  for  soldiers  in  the  Union  Army,  and  a  number 
of  machines  were  smuggled  across  into  the  Confederate  lines.  There  were 
eighty-six  establishments,  in  thirteen  States,  manufacturing  sewing-ma- 
chines in  1860,  and  the  output  was  valued  at  $4,000,000.  The  output  had 

225 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

increased  to  $15,000,000  ten  years  later.  To-day  there  are  forty-seven 
factories  in  the  United  States,  employing  20,000  workers,  with  an  output 
of  $28,000,000. 

The  sewing-machine  has  now  encircled  the  globe.  Over  ten  million 
dollars'  worth  of  machines  are  now  exported  in  a  single  year,  nearly  a 
fourth  of  these  machines  going  to  Scotland  alone.  Of  all  the  foreign  na- 
tions, only  the  Germans  have  succeeded  in  making  a  machine  that  can 
compete  with  the  American  machine.  One  may  now  find  an  American 
sewing-machine  in  almost  every  civilized  community  on  the  globe.  The 
peasant  in  Russia,  the  black  mother  in  Africa,  the  coolie  in  India,  the  al- 
mond-eyed ladies  in  China — all  have  American  sewing-machines  to-day. 

American  Genius  Solves  World's  Food  Problem — Agricultural 

Implements 

AMERICAN  inventive  genius  solved  the  food  problem  for  the 
peoples  of  the  earth.  At  the  beginning  of  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury, when  our  modern  farm  machinery  was  not  known,  ninety- 
seven  per  cent,  of  the  Americans  were  compelled  to  work  farms  to  raise 
enough  food  for  themselves  and  stock.  Then  there  were  only  six  cities  with 
populations  of  over  8,000.  One  century  later,  through  our  modern  farm 
machinery,  only  thirty-seven  per  cent,  of  the  Americans  were  required  to 
work  the  farms,  and  they  were  producing  not  only  ten  bushels  of  wheat  for 
every  American,  but  were  also  able  to  export  farm  products  valued  at 
$950,000,000.  The  remaining  sixty-three  per  cent,  of  our  population, 
released  from  farm  work  by  modern  machinery,  were  able  to  live  and  work 
in  the  urban  districts,  and,  at  the  close  of  the  century,  had  reared  484 
cities  each  of  whose  populations  exceeded  8,000  people. 

The  first  practical  reaping  machine  had  its  birth  down  on  a  small  farm 
in  Rockridge  County,  in  Virginia.  On  this  same  farm,  Robert  McCor- 
mick  had  attempted  to  solve  the  problem,  but  it  remained  for  his  son, 
Cyrus  H.  McCormick,  to  make  the  first  practical  machine,  in  1831. 
Though  crude  in  workmanship,  it  embraced  all  the  essential  features  of  the 
modern  machine — the  divider  to  separate  the  standing  grain  from  that  to 
be  cut,  the  revolving  reel  to  press  the  grain  against  the  cutting  blades,  and 
the  platform  between  the  two  wheels  on  which  the  sheaves  fell,  ready  to 
be  bound  by  hand.  At  this  time,  that  other  great  machine,  the  thresher, 
was  in  its  formative  stage,  being  known  as  the  "ground  hog"  thresher.  Six 
years  after  the  birth  of  the  reaper,  the  Maine  inventors,  Hiram  and  John 
Pitts,  patented  their  machine  of  endless  belts  and  beaters,  which  separated 
the  grain  from  the  straw  and  chaff  and  cleaned  it.  This  was  improved 
upon  by  Cyrus  Roberts,  of  Illinois,  in  1856,  and  it  is  this  machine  which 

226 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INVENTIONS 

embraces  the  chief  features  of  the  modern  machine.  But  the  problem  was 
not  yet  fully  solved.  Without  Case's  wheat-thresher  the  bulk  of  the  great 
wheat  crop  would  rot  in  the  chaff  and  straw.  All  the  old-fashioned  flails, 
and  treadmills  and  crude  threshers  of  fifty  years  ago  could  not  thresh  a 
third  of  it.  Case  made  the  first  model  of  his  machine  in  a  farmhouse  near 
Racine,  Wisconsin.  His  first  device  united  the  thresher  to  the  separator, 
and  to-day  that  machine  and  its  like  made  the  great  wheat  elevator  what 
it  is.  The  third  great  harvesting  machine,  the  automatic  twine-bind- 
ing harvester,  was  the  invention  of  John  F.  Appleby,  of  Wisconsin,  and 
appeared  about  the  year  1880.  To-day  these  three  wonderful  machines 
are  combined  into  one  and  are  harvesting  the  great  grain  fields  of  the  Pa- 
cific slope,  while  the  same  machines,  as  separate  units,  are  traveling  in 
batteries  of  twenty  to  forty  over  the  wheat  fields  of  the  Dakotas  and  mid- 
Western  States. 

It  is  an  inspiring  sight  to  watch  the  harvest  of  wheat  in  the  San 
Joaquin  Valley  of  California,  for  instance.  Yellow  as  gold,  with  the 
sheen  of  the  sea,  the  field  billows  from  sky-line  to  sky-line.  Here  comes 
the  huge  combination  harvester,  either  drawn  by  a  modern  tractor  engine 
or  scores  of  horses.  In  the  latter  case,  the  driver  is  perched  upon  what 
seems  to  be  a  ladder  thrust  at  right  angles  from  the  ground  and  out  over 
the  horses'  backs.  At  the  right  side  of  the  machine  is  seen  flashing  in  the 
sunlight  what  appears  like  a  frail,  old-fashioned  mill-wheel,  but  is  in 
reality  the  revolving  reel  which  captures  the  grain  and  holds  it  until  the 
knives  have  performed  their  work.  Under  the  reel  is  an  endless  belt,  which 
receives  the  cut  grain  and  conveys  it  into  the  mysterious  interior  of  the 
machine,  where  it  is  threshed,  cleaned,  and  poured  into  sacks.  The  chaff 
and  straw  pass  in  another  direction.  Thus  the  machine  goes,  cutting  a 
swath  fourteen  feet  wide,  performing  the  work  of  150  horses  under  old- 
time  conditions  and  leveling  each  acre  of  wheat  at  the  average  cost  of  fifty 
cents — a  fraction  of  the  cost  by  old-fashioned  methods. 

The  farm  machinery  and  implements  of  the  United  States  represented, 
in  1912,  an  investment  of  over  $1,000,000,000 — a  sum  sufficient  to  pay 
the  expenses  of  running  the  entire  Government  for  a  year.  In  the  course 
of  an  argument  before  the  Commissioner  of  Patents,  it  was  declared  that 
the  McCormick  reaper  was  worth  $55,000,000  a  year  to  this  country.  So 
valuable  was  this  patent  that  its  extension  was  refused  McCormick,  but 
with  improvements  on  the  original  patent,  the  McCormick  works  in  Chi- 
cago were  founded  and  now  turn  out  more  than  100,000  reapers  a  year. 
The  world's  great  wheat  crop  of  over  5,000,000,000  is  all  practically 
harvested  with  this  American  reaper. 

Then  came  John  Stevens;  he  discovered  that  he  could  get  twenty-five 

227 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

per  cent,  white  flour  from  a  stone  smoothly  dressed,  while  a  rough  stone 
would  give  him  only  ten  per  cent.  The  supply  of  burrstone  was  limited, 
and  the  idea  occurred  to  him  to  use  smooth  corrugated  iron  rollers.  After 
much  trouble  and  expense,  he  had  the  iron  roller  made  according  to  his 
idea.  When  he  got  his  system  into  operation,  it  doubled  the  output  from 
the  same  power,  and  he  was  able  to  secure  ninety  per  cent,  of  good  flour. 
Thus  we  have  the  roller-mill,  now  used  the  world  over  and  undoubtedly 
one  of  the  greatest  American  inventions. 

It  is  the  plow,  perhaps,  that  tells  the  story  of  civilization  more  elo- 
quently than  any  other  agency  having  to  do  with  the  building  of  nations. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that,  in  this  age  of  American  forty-gang  plows 
drawn  by  machinery,  the  ancient  plow  of  the  Babylonians  and  Egyptians 
still  turns  the  furrow  in  various  parts  of  the  world.  The  ancient  forked 
stick,  drawn  by  camels  or  oxen,  still  plows  the  plains  of  Sharon,  outside  of 
Palestine,  just  as  a  similar  instrument  turns  the  earth  in  the  highlands  of 
Mexico,  or  even  on  the  farms  of  Mohave  Indians  in  our  own  Southwest. 

There  are  legions  of  American  plowmen,  probably  10,000,000,  who 
go  into  the  fields  every  spring  and  with  their  modern  plows  turn  up  empires 
of  rich  earth. 

In  the  decade  preceding  the  oeginning  of  the  American  Civil  War, 
American  plowmen  were  most  all  using  the  English  wooden  moldboard 
plow,  equipped  with  an  iron  point.  At  that  time  they  were  plowing  an 
area  of  land  which  was  larger  than  the  entire  country  of  Sweden.  Sixty 
years  later,  the  era  of  modern  plows  had  dawned,  and  our  plowmen  were 
turning  over  every  year  an  area  four  times  greater,  or  nearly  as  large  as  the 
whole  of  Mexico.  Our  crops  in  that  time  increased  from  about  $2,000,- 
000,000  to  nearly  $10,000,000,000.  That  is  the  magic  of  the  modern 
plow,  without  which  these  tremendous  crops  could  never  have  been 
planted. 

Two  years  before  the  first  complete  railroad  joined  the  Mississippi 
with  the  Atlantic,  the  real  secret  of  the  plow  had  been  discovered.  This 
genius  was  the  American,  James  Oliver,  of  Indiana,  who  began,  in  the  year 
1855,  to  manufacture  his  famous  chilled  iron  plow,  which  successfully 
resisted  the  wearing  power  of  the  earth  and  automatically  scoured  itself, 
as  it  passed  under  the  ground.  While  Grant  was  besieging  Petersburg  in 
the  American  Civil  War,  the  first  steam  plow  was  operated  in  America. 
Two  plows  were  used  first,  and  then  more  added,  until  ten,  twenty,  and 
even  thirty  plows  were  hauled  by  one  engine  cutting  parallel  furrows. 
Then  the  climax  was  reached  when  recently  forty- four  plows  were  attached 
and  turned  up  the  same  number  of  furrows  in  any  kind  of  soil.  This 
mighty  machine,  operated  by  only  two  men,  can  do  more  work  than  was 

228 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  LANSING,  MICHIGAN— This   State   has  an  area  of  f>7,9SO  square  miles 

(about  equal  to  Greece  and   Belgium  combined) — Population   2.810.173    (about 

equal  to  Norway  and  Orange  Free  State  combined) — Admitted  in  1837. 


STATK  CAPITOL   AT   MAI'ISON.   WISCONSIN" — Tbis   State   has  an   area  of  50,006  square  miles 

(larger  than    Switzerland,   Holgium,   Denmark,    Kuropean   Turkey   combined)  — 

Us  population  is  ^,333,860  (larger  than  Norway) — Admitted  in  1843, 


STATE    CAPITOL    AT    SPRINGFIELD.    ILLINOIS— This    State    has    an    area    of    -.0.005    square 

miles   (nearly  equal  to  Oreece  and   Belgium   combiner!  1 — Its   population   is  5,038,591 

(larger  than  Kingdom  of  Sweden) — Admitted  to  the  Union  in   1818. 


STATE    CAPITOL   AT    INDIANAPOLIS.    INDIANA — This    State   has    an    area   of   30.354    square 

miles     (larger    than    Portugal) — Its    population    is    2.700.S70     (about    equal    to 

the  Republic  of  Venezuela) — Admitted  to  the  Union  in  1810. 


done  formerly  by  forty-four  men  and  eighty-eight  horses.     It  travels  at 
the  average  rate  of  twenty-five  miles  a  day. 

This  is  the  wonderful  machine  which  has  made  possible  the  vast  wheat 
fields  of  Western  America.  In  the  springtime  it  is  an  inspiring  sight  to 
look  upon  the  monster  "caterpillar,"  as  it  is  familiarly  called,  starting  to 
turn  a  3o,ooo-acre  field.  It  often  performs  three  operations  at  once. 
Behind  the  tractor  engine  come  the  plows,  steadily  performing  their  work, 
while  attached  behind  them  are  modern  harrows  to  smooth  the  upturned 
earth,  and  behind  the  harrows  come  the  mechanical  seeders,  dropping  the 
grain  in  the  furrow. 

American  Genius  Inaugurates  New  Epoch — the  Cotton  Gin 

ANOTHER  great  epoch-maker  in  American  inventions  is  the  cot- 
ton-gin, the  machine  that  revolutionized  the  whole  economic 
system  of  the  nation  and  made  cotton  one  of  the  world's  greatest 
crops — a  crop  upon  which  the  financial  condition  of  the  nation  is  largely 
dependent.  The  story  of  the  cotton-gin  is  the  revelation  of  the  develop- 
ment and  prosperity  of  the  Great  South.  Its  development  is  the  develop- 
ment of  the  South ;  its  wealth  is  the  wealth  of  the  Southern  people.  And 
we  owe  it  all  to  the  genius  of  that  American — Eli  Whitney,  the  Massachu- 
setts tutor — to  whom  the  South  pays  deep  homage.  Wherever  you  go  in 
our  great  cotton  belt,  which  sweeps  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  far  borders  of 
old  Mexico,  you  will  find  the  same  cotton-gin,  in  essential  points,  that 
Whitney  invented  while  residing  in  the  family  of  our  distinguished  South- 
ern lady,  Mrs.  General  Greene,  wife  of  the  Revolutionary  hero,  in  South 
Carolina.  He  brought  it  into  this  world  a  completed  machine,  which 
countless  mechanics  have  been  unable  to  improve  upon,  one  of  the  few 
great  creations  which  have  this  distinction.  His  gin  was  completed  in 
1784,  two  years  after  the  first  government  coining  mint  was  opened  in 
Philadelphia. 

The  cotton-gin  is  a  simple  machine,  but  it  is  in  its  simplicity  that  its 
greatest  value  lies.  For  ages  planters  had  been  growing  cotton,  but  the 
picking  out  of  the  seeds  was  an  endless  task  and  prohibited  cotton  culture 
on  great  scales.  The  Hindus  and  the  Chinese  are  said  to  have  had  a  crude 
machine  which  is  known  as  the  "churka."  What  the  cotton-gin  means  to 
the  South,  and  of  course  to  the  world,  is  revealed  in  the  fact  that,  before 
Whitney  invented  it,  the  Southern  States  produced  only  about  2,000,000 
pounds  in  1 790.  One  hundred  and  twenty  years  later,  the  crop  amounted 
to  6,000,000,000  pounds,  or  three  thousand  times  as  much.  In  1793,  the 
year  in  which  Whitney  devised  his  gin,  5,000,000  pounds  of  cotton  were 
grown  in  America.  In  1825,  the  year  of  Whitney's  death,  the  cotton  ex- 

231 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

ported  from  the  United  States  was  valued  at  $36,846,000,  and  all  other 
exports  at  $30,094,000.  In  1913,  the  American  cotton  crop  was  worth 
a  round  $1,000,000,000.  We  supply  three-quarters  of  the  world's  133,- 
000,000  spindles  with  cotton  which  is  valued  at  $700,000,000,  a  sum 
nearly  as  great  as  that  which  the  Russians  had  in  their  state  and  postal 
savings  banks  in  1912.  Cotton  is  the  world's  great  commodity;  it  is  as 
standard  as  gold.  It  has  been  estimated  that,  if  all  the  cotton  bales  pro- 
duced in  a  year  were  stood  on  end  to  form  a  column,  it  would  reach  nearly 
9,000  miles  high,  or  it  would  require  a  solid  train  of  freight  cars,  each 
loaded  to  full  capacity,  numbering  about  138,000  cars,  to  move  them. 

American  Genius  Utilizes  Rubber  Forests — Process  of  Vulcanization 

AMERICA  revealed  to  the  world  the  secret  of  the  utilization  of 
rubber  by  the  process  of  vulcanization.  This  developed  one  of 
the  greatest  and  most  indispensable  industries.  So  valuable  is 
rubber  the  chemists  have  spent  years  of  toil  in  trying  to  manufacture  it 
synthetically,  and  they  have  succeeded,  but  not  for  commercial  purposes. 
Rubber  in  great  quantities  is  used  in  almost  every  industry.  Fifty  million 
dollars  are  spent  annually  for  the  rubber  tires  on  automobiles  alone. 
Without  them  the  automobile  age  would  be  impossible.  Every  one  of 
these  cars  that  spins  over  the  globe  to-day  for  whatever  purpose  is  a  monu- 
ment to  an  American  chemist  inventor  who  struggled  for  years  and  nearly 
starved  before  he  succeeded  in  vulcanizing  raw  rubber. 

This  was  Goodyear,  of  Connecticut.  After  many  efforts  to  vulcanize 
rubber,  that  is,  to  make  it  resist  the  hardening  chemical  process  in  water 
and  melting  in  the  heat  of  the  sun,  he  succeeded  by  accidentally  dropping 
some  nitric  acid  on  it.  This  made  the  rubber  soft,  pliable,  flexible,  and 
resisting  to  the  hardening  and  melting  processes.  It  was  one  of  those 
accidents  due  to  long  patience  and  hard  work  in  experimenting.  This  dis- 
covery made  possible  the  great  rubber  industry  and  the  great  automobile 
rubber-tire  industry  of  the  world. 

American  Genius  Inaugurates  the  Paper  Age — Pulp  Processes 

MODERN  pulp  paper  is  an  American  product.     It  was  from 
Tilghman's  discovery  that  the  wood-pulp  industry  arose  and 
has  done  so  much  to  make  the  American  newspaper  what  it  is 
to-day.     Until  less  than  a  short  generation  ago  every  newspaper  was  made 
of  rags,  and  a  copy  of  a  paper  with  its  comparatively  meager  news  was  a 
luxury.     Now  one  has  only  to  learn  to  read  to  have  all  that  can  be  read. 
There  is  no  great  product  so  cheap  as  a  newspaper.     Without  paper  the 
modern  world  would  be  literally  impossible.     It  has  become  a  great  part 

232 


of  our  social  and  business  life.  We  use  it  for  our  money;  we  use  it  to  send 
our  news  into  every  part  of  the  earth ;  we  use  it  to  conduct  the  great  stream 
of  business  correspondence  which  is  the  foundation  of  the  whole  commer- 
cial world  to-day.  It  is  the  basis  of  our  schools;  it  is  the  keystone  of  our 
system  of  law  and  justice;  it  is  the  medium  of  expression  for  our  religions. 

The  world  has  passed  through  several  so-called  "ages" — but  the  pres- 
ent period  may  well  be  called  the  "paper  age."  We  are  slowly  eating  up 
our  forests  to  turn  them  into  paper.  We  are  using  nearly  5,000,000  cords 
of  wood  this  year  to  make  paper.  One  metropolitan  Sunday  paper  will 
use  100  tons  of  paper,  which  requires  for  its  manufacture  125  cords  of 
wood,  enough  standing  timber  to  cover  six  acres.  Thousands  of  square 
miles  of  forests  are  being  cut  down  to  feed  our  paper  mills.  This  is  re- 
sulting in  drying  up  our  rivers  and  even  checking  our  rainfall.  At  the 
rate  with  which  the  forests  are  disappearing  since  the  coming  of  the 
"paper  age"  it  is  only  a  question  of  years  before  the  supply  will  be  ex- 
hausted. 

The  paper  mills  of  the  United  States  are  turning  out  over  5,000,000 
tons  of  their  product  every  year.  Its  commercial  value  is  over  $300,000,- 
ooo,  or  more  than  twice  that  of  all  the  gold  and  silver  mined  annually  in 
this  country.  There  are  90,000  people  working  in  the  paper  mills.  The 
total  horse-power  required  to  operate  these  mills  was  1,034,265}  exceeding 
the  horse-power  of  the  cotton  industry  and  approaching  that  of  iron  and 
steel.  It  is  estimated  that  2,400,000  tons  of  this  paper  become  absolute 
waste  within  three  or  four  years,  representing  a  waste  of  $10,000,000  per 
year.  The  United  States  produces  and  consumes  more  paper  than  any 
other  country  in  the  world. 

American  Genius  Revolutionizes  Printing — Modern  Presses 

THE  modern  rapid  printing  press  is  an  American  development. 
We  have  taken  the  Gutenberg  invention  and  adapted  it  to  the 
needs  of  modern  times — and  especially  the  great  American  news- 
paper. It  is  a  remarkable  advance  from  the  press  which  Johann  Guten- 
berg used  in  the  year  1450  to  print  the  first  book,  a  Bible  containing  thirty- 
six  lines.  In  the  year  1814,  the  publishers  of  the  London  Times  astonished 
the  world  by  printing  800  papers  in  an  hour  on  the  steam  printing  press 
which  Frederich  Koenig,  a  Saxon,  invented.  Compare  that  with  what  our 
modern  printing  presses  are  doing  every  day  in  some  of  our  metropolitan 
newspaper  offices.  There  in  the  center  of  the  press  room  is  a  mammoth' 
mechanical  genius  which  sweeps  the  whole  gamut  of  mechanical  ingenuity 
— from  the  most  delicate  chronometer  to  the  swiftest  locomotive.  It  vir- 
tually is  twelve  presses  combined  into  one.  It  prints,  pastes  loose  sheets 

233 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

together,  folds,  counts,  and  stacks  160,000  sixteen  page  newpapers  in 
an  hour. 

Let  us  compare  its  marvelous  speed  with  our  great  railroad  engines. 
The  distance  between  New  York  and  Chicago  is  about  900  miles,  and  the 
quickest  schedule  time  by  railroad  is  20  hours.  Starting  the  printing  press 
and  the  locomotive  at  the  same  instant,  the  former  will  have  printed  and 
folded  and  counted  into  newspapers  more  than  1,000  miles  of  paper  before 
the  locomotive  has  completed  half  of  its  journey  to  the  Illinois  city.  The 
paper  is  supplied  to  the  press  from  rolls,  weighing  about  a  ton  apiece. 
When  one  roll  is  finished,  another  stands  ready  and  is  automatically  pasted 
onto  the  end  of  the  paper  as  it  leaves  the  first  roll — and  this  is  done  without 
halting  the  flying  machinery  for  an  instant. 

These  inventions  allow  the  American  publishers  to  print  more  than 
120,000,000  copies  of  newspapers  and  periodicals  in  a  year.  That  is  the 
miracle  which  allows  the  newspaper  and  periodical  publisher  to  sell  8,  10, 
and  even  48  page  publications  for  a  cent  apiece,  and  enables  him  to  dis- 
tribute millions  of  copies  throughout  our  nation  every  day — and  allows 
him  to  publish  successive  editions  during  the  day. 

The  first  printing  press  made  in  America  came  from  the  shop  of  Adam 
Ramage,  in  Philadelphia,  in  1795.  George  Clymer,  of  Pennsylvania, 
built  the  first  printing  press  capable  of  printing  on  both  sides  of  a  news- 
paper at  once  in  1817.  Daniel  Tread  well,  of  Boston,  made  the  first 
American  printing  press  operated  by  steam  in  1822.  Robert  Hoe  con- 
structed the  type  revolving  press,  in  which  the  type  form  was  arranged  on 
one  cylinder  and  made  to  imprint  upon  paper  passing  over  smaller  cylin- 
ders. Then,  William  Bullock,  of  Philadelphia,  applied  the  principle  of 
printing  on  both  sides  simultaneously  to  the  steam  press.  This  marked  the 
dawn  of  the  modern  printing  era. 

To-day  the  printing  industry  is  the  sixth  in  importance  in  the  United 
States.  It  gives  employment  to  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million  people, 
and  creates  in  a  single  year  products  valued  at  more  than  $800,000,000 — 
a  sum  much  greater  than  the  total  value  of  men's  clothing,  or  cotton  goods, 
or  boots  and  shoes. 

American  Genius  Gives  to  the  World  tJie  Typesetting  Machine 

THE  Americans  not  only  developed  the  modern  printing  press  but 
solved  the  problem  of  type-setting.     Johann  Gutenberg,  of  Ger- 
many, made  the  first  movable  type  about  the  year  1438.     Guten- 
berg carved  his  type  out  of  wood.     His  collaborator,  Peter  Schoffer, 
improved  this  method  by  substituting  metal  for  wood.     Four  centuries 
after  the  birth  of  printing,  an  American  watchmaker,  Ottmar  Mergen- 

234. 


STATE    CAPITOL   AT   ANNAPOLIS,    MARYLAND — This    State    has    an    area   of    12.327    square 

miles    (larger  than  Belgium) — Its  population  is  1,295,346 

(larger  than  Porto  Rico) — Original  State  in  1788. 


STATE    CAPITOL   AT    DOVER,    DELAWARE — This    State    has    nn    area   of   2,370    square   miles 

(twice  the  area  of  Zanzibar) — Its  population   is   202.322    (larger  than    Island 

of  Hawaii)— Original  State  in  1787. 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  RICHMOND.  VIRGINIA— This  State  has  an  area  of  42.027  sauare  mile; 

(larger   than    Scotland  and   Belgium) — Its    population    is   2,0*11,012    (nearly   as 

large  as   Kingdom  of  Norway) — Original  State  in   1788. 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  CHARLESTON,  WEST  VIRGINIA— This  State  has  an  area  of  24,170  square 

miles    (larger  than   Belgium   and   Netherlands) — Its  population   is   1,221,119 

(larger  than  New  Zealand)— Admitted  to  the  Union  in  1863. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INVENTIONS 

thaler,  revolutionized  the  printing  industry  with  his  marvelous  linotype, 
which  transformed  cold  metal  into  solid  lines  of  type-matter.  For  more 
than  three-quarters  of  a  century,  the  world's  greatest  mechanicians  had 
struggled  with  the  problem. 

Mergenthaler's  linotype  is  an  invention  that  has  won  a  fortune  for  the 
poor  German  immigrant,  with  only  $30.00  in  his  pocket  on  landing.  It 
has  made  the  cheap  book  a  reality  the  world  over  and  has  multiplied  the 
power  of  the  printing  press.  The  modern  linotype  is  more  intelligent  and 
accurate  than  the  average  human  typesetter.  The  machine  resembles, 
roughly  speaking,  a  small  pipe  organ  of  iron  and  steel,  with  a  typewriter 
set  in  position  where  the  organ's  keyboard  would  be.  Before  this  keyboard 
the  operator  sits  operating  the  keys  and  following  the  manuscript  which 
hangs  before  him.  Every  time  he  presses  a  key,  a  little  mould  in  which 
that  particular  letter  is  to  be  cast  takes  its  place  beside  the  preceding  letter 
in  an  assembler.  When  the  line  of  moulds  is  complete,  a  bell  warns  the 
operator  and  he  begins  a  new  line.  The  completed  line  of  moulds  is  auto- 
matically carried  by  the  machine  to  a  pot  of  liquid  metal.  Here  a  little 
pump  forces  the  metal  into  the  moulds,  and  the  type  are  cast.  When  the 
letters  are  solidified  into  a  solid  line  of  type  as  it  will  appear  on  the  printed 
page,  the  line,  or  "slug,"  drops  into  its  proper  position  in  a  frame,  or  "gal- 
ley," and  this,  when  full,  is  carried  away  to  the  composing  room  tables. 
In  the  meantime,  the  moulds  have  returned  to  their  first  position  and  are 
ready  to  make  another  journey  through  the  linotype.  Thus  the  modern 
linotype  operator  can  set  more  than  1,000  words  an  hour,  and  it  is  by  this 
magic  that  a  battery  of  linotypes  can  digest  and  reproduce  in  cold  type  the 
thousands  of  words  that  flow  through  a  modern  newspaper  composing 
room  in  the  space  of  a  few  hours. 

American  Genius  Creates  the  Modern  Cities  with  the  Elevators 

AMERICAN   genius    also   conceived   that   wonderful   contrivance, 
called  the  elevator,  which  has  made  great  business  structures  pos- 
sible.    Without  these  steel  cages,  that  plunge  up  nearly  a  thou- 
sand feet  and  then  fall  again  like  meteors  from  the  sky,  we  should  still 
be  living  on  the  ground  in  low,  sprawling  structures  that  would  require 
a  whole  state  to  house  the  people  of  one  of  our  large  cities.     It  is  the  ele- 
vator that  has  made  it  possible  to  erect  million  dollar  buildings  on  seventy- 
foot  plots  of  land,  and  has  caused  our  cities  to  expand  vertically  instead 
of  horizontally. 

The  first  American  elevator  was  built  by  George  H.  Fox  in  1850. 
It  was  operated  by  means  of  a  vertical  screw,  the  butt  carrying  the  cage. 
But  the  "father  of  the  elevator"  is  Elisha  G.  Otis,  who,  three  years  later, 

237 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

exhibited  an  improved  invention  at  the  World's  Fair  in  the  Crystal  Palace 
in  New  York.  Otis  was  a  Vermont  farm  boy,  whose  Yankee  inventiveness 
had  first  led  him  to  improve  agricultural  machinery.  He  became  a  suc- 
cessful carriage  builder.  His  chief  claim  to  fame  is  the  elevator.  It  was 
invented  by  him  at  the  age  of  forty- two.  The  year  1871  saw  the  first  hy- 
draulic elevator.  It  held  the  field  jointly  with  the  steam  elevator,  until 
the  electric  elevator  came  into  use  about  1888.  It  plays  no  small  part  in 
the  development  of  our  civilization. 

American  Genius  Develops  Photography — the  Kodak 

THE  modern  camera  is  an  American  development.  Through  this 
adaptation  of  an  earlier  invention,  the  earth  has  been  brought  be- 
fore our  eyes,  the  faces  of  the  peoples  of  all  nations  are  preserved 
for  the  generations.  It  is  one  of  the  greatest  factors  in  our  modern  life. 
To-day  we  can  sit  among  our  photographs  and  look  at  the  world's  events. 

Photography  began  with  Giambattista  della  Porta,  an  Italian  philos- 
opher, in  the  latter  half  of  the  Sixteenth  Century.  A  German,  J.  H. 
iSchultze,  in  1727,  has  become  known  as  the  "Columbus  of  photography," 
and  obtained  the  first  actual  photographic  copies  of  writing.  Various  ex- 
periments were  made  with  chloride  of  silver,  but  little  progress  was  made 
until,  in  1814,  Joseph  Niepce,  a  Frenchman,  succeeded  in  producing  per- 
manent pictures  by  a  process  which  he  called  heliography.  Another 
Frenchman,  Daguerre,  in  1832,  invented  the  famous  process,  called 
"daguerrotype,"  which  consisted  in  exposing  a  metal  plate  covered  with  sil- 
ver solution.  Subsequently,  he  developed  in  a  darkened  room  the  im- 
pression, which  was  rendered  permanent  by  special  chemical  treatment. 

But  the  first  actual  photograph  ever  taken  was  by  an  American,  John 
W.  Draper,  in  1840.  Up  to  that  time  metal  alone  had  been  employed  in 
photography  but,  about  1850,  sensitized  paper  began  to  be  used,  and  the 
era  of  modem  photography  commenced.  Since  then  that  art  has  been  per- 
fected in  various  ways,  and  it  has  become  intimately  connected  with  many 
sciences,  especially  physiology  and  astronomy. 

The  important  American  development  is  the  "kodak"  or  hand  camera, 
which  first  appeared  in  1888.  That  which  led  the  way  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  kodak  and  the  displacement  of  glass  plates  as  a  necessity  in 
photography,  was  the  invention  of  the  "film."  This  arrangement  made 
daylight  photography  and  practically  revolutionized  the  art.  The  kodak 
has  popularized  photography.  The  instrument  is  capable  of  instantaneous, 
time  exposure,  landscape,  portraiture,  flash  light,  and  panorama  work. 
The  kodak  has  played  an  important  part  in  illustrating  war  scenes.  It 
was  used  in  the  war  in  Cuba,  in  South  Africa,  in  the  Philippines,  in  Corea 

238 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INVENTIONS 

and  Manchuria.     One  of  the  great  weeklies  reports  that  ninety  per  cent,  of 
the  war  pictures  were  upon  films. 

American  Genius  Solves  Problem  of  Aerial  Navigation 

MAN'S  conquest  of  the  air  practically  dates  from  the  year  1908. 
It  was  in  that  year  that  man  stepped  forth,  as  though  from  a 
chrysalis,  with  full-grown  wings.     It  was  then  that  he  slipped 
those  fetters  which  had  bound  his  feet  to  the  earth  for  countless  ages,  so 
that  now  he  can  consort  with  the  feathered  creatures  of  the  heavens;  or 
he  can  sport  with  the  condor  and  the  eagle  in  their  mountain-top  aeries 
— the  beginning  of  the  aerial  age.     For  long  ages  flight  had  been  a  dream. 
The  philosophers  said  that  it  could  never  be  accomplished,  but  it  seethed 
in  the  brain  of  certain  adventurous  inventors,  and  at  last  it  has  come. 

It  remained  for  American  genius  to  discover  the  fallacy  of  the  New- 
tonian law,  and,  after  he  succeeded  in  disproving  it  under  actual  experi- 
ments, it  was  only  a  question  of  a  few  years  when  the  heavier  than  air 
flying-machine  should  become  a  realized  dream.  That  man  was  the  late 
Professor  Samuel  Langley,  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute.  He  learned  by 
actual  experiments  how  much  horse-power  was  needed  to  sustain  a  sur- 
face of  given  weight  by  means  of  its  motion  through  the  air.  To  accom- 
plish this,  he  erected  a  huge  whirling  table  in  the  open  air  at  Allegheny, 
Pennsylvania,  driven  by  a  steam-engine.  The  outer  end  of  its  revolving 
arm  swept  through  a  circumference  of  200  feet  and  could  be  made  to 
travel  as  fast  as  seventy  miles  an  hour.  It  soon  was  discovered  that  the 
faster  a  thing  traveled,  the  less  weight  was  required  to  sustain  it.  A 
brass  plate  weighing  a  pound  at  least  was  found  to  weigh  only  an  ounce 
when  carried  by  a  fast  motion,  and,  the  faster  the  table  whirled,  the  less 
power  it  took  to  make  the  plate  move.  On  the  basis  of  this  discovery, 
Professor  Langley  constructed  his  aeroplane,  whose  practicability  has  since 
been  demonstrated. 

The  real  conquerors  of  the  air  were  the  two  American  brothers,  Or- 
ville  and  Wilbur  Wright.  Just  after  the  death  of  Otto  Lilienthal,  the 
German  experimenter,  who  only  partially  succeeded  in  building  a  heavier- 
than-air  machine  that  would  float,  these  two  Americans,  then  manufactur- 
ers of  bicycles,  began  to  experiment  in  1898.  Five  years  afterward,  the 
birds  fluttering  around  the  sand  dunes  near  Kitty  Hawk,  North  Carolina, 
were  startled  when  a  machine  flew  from  the  ground,  and  a  throbbing  motor 
carried  the  aviator  a  few  hundred  feet  through  the  air.  The  next  years 
they  spent  in  perfecting  their  machine,  and  the  world  was  astonished  to 
learn  that  Orville  Wright  had  made  a  successful  flight,  in  1908,  remain- 
ing in  the  air  one  hour  and  fourteen  minutes.  That  was  the  beginning 

239 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

of  the  successful  aeroplane.  What  Langley,  Lilienthal,  Sir  George  Cay- 
ley,  Sir  Hiram  Maxim,  Francis  Wenham,  Chanute,  Pilcher,  and  scores  of 
others  had  spent  fortunes,  and  in  some  cases  their  lives,  to  achieve,  these 
two  Americans  brought  to  success,  and  their  names  will  stand  in  history  as 
the  pioneers. 

There  are  thousands  of  other  great  American  inventors,  less  epoch- 
making  perhaps  than  those  briefly  described  above,  but  of  great  impor- 
tance. The  inventions  in  metallurgy  have  added  billions  to  the  value  of 
the  world's  mines.  American  iron  is  the  cheapest  in  the  world,  for  no- 
where else  can  a  ton  of  iron  ore  be  taken  from  the  mines  and  be  converted 
into  finished  steel  with  such  complete  facilities. 

Man's  progress  has  been  marked  by  continual  revelations,  by  constant 
discoveries — each  of  which  opens  a  new  world  of  human  life  and  prac- 
tically reconstructs  the  earth.  So  it  will  continue  throughout  the  ages, 
picking  up  the  links  of  an  endless  chain  that  leads  us  toward  eternity. 
Life  is  neither  incident  nor  accident — it  is  the  eternal  law  as  positively  fixed 
in  its  course  as  the  law  of  night  and  day.  "We  sleep,"  as  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  said,  "but  the  loom  of  life  never  stops ;  and  the  pattern  which  was 
weaving  when  the  sun  went  down  is  weaving  when  it  comes  up  to-morrow." 
And  likewise,  as  Leigh  Hunt  suggested,  "there  are  two  worlds;  the  world 
that  we  can  measure  with  line  and  rule,  and  the  world  that  we  feel  with 
our  hearts  and  imaginations." 

The  scientist  is  the  great  emissary  to  the  world  of  unrevealed  reali- 
ties; he  journeys  into  the  seas  and  skies  or  into  the  bowels  of  the  earth  and 
returns  with  the  treasures  that  were  locked  in  the  universe.  There  is  no 
miracle  about  it — the  miracle  is  that  we  do  not  find  these  hidden  forces 
sooner  and  learn  to  utilize  them. 

America  is  a  land  of  incalculable  resources,  and  therefore  it  is  a  land 
of  many  great  scientific  discoveries.  Moreover,  its  political  liberation 
brings  about  a  similar  freedom  in  the  domain  of  science  which  throws  open 
the  whole  field  of  discovery  to  the  whole  people  and  consequently  results 
in  larger  and  more  frequent  revelations.  Democracy  in  government  means 
democracy  in  scientific  discovery  and  invention.  Equal  opportunities  to 
all  are  not  confined  to  political  opportunities,  but  extend  to  the  whole 
realm  of  human  activities ;  the  universe  becomes  every  man's  dominion  by 
inheritance. 


240 


STATE    CAPITOL   AT    FRANKFORT.    KENTUCKY— This    State    has    an    area   of  40.598   square 

miles    (nearly  equal  to  Scotland  and  Belgium   combined) — Its  population  is 

2,289.905   (nearly  equal  to  Norway) — Admitted  to  the  Fnion  in  1792 


STATE    CAPITOL   AT    NASHVILLE,    TENNESSEE — This    State    has   an    area    of   42,022    square 

miles  (larger  than  Switzerland  and  I'enmark  combined) — Its  population  is  2,184,789 

(about  equal  to  Republic  of  Cuba  i  —Admitted  in  1796. 


AMKKICAX   (JEXU'S    SEVERS   THE    CONTINENTS— This   is   a    glimpse   of   the   Panama   Canal, 

connecting   Atlantic    and    Pacific    Oceans — a    triumph    in    modern    engineering — This    canal 

changes   course   of   much   of  world's    commerce— It   has    cost   about   ?375.000,000. 


FIRST    SHIPS    TO    PASS    THROUGH     PAXAMA    CAXAI The    ship    on    the    left    is    the    first 

commercial  steamer  to  pass  through  the  locks — On  the  right  we  see  the  first  battleship 
passing  through   the  canal — The  canal  was   formally  opened   in   1915. 


PART  III  CHAPTER  VI 

AMERICAN 
TRIUMPHS  OF  ENGINEERING 


AH  the  means  of  action — 
The  shapeless  mass,  the  materials — 
Lie  everywhere  about  us,  what  we  need 
Is  the  celestial  fire  to  change  the  flint 
Into  transparent  crystal,  bright  and  clear 
That  fire  is  genius ! 

— Longfellow. 


CIVILIZATION  has  been  created  largely  by  the  hands  of  men. 
It  is  a  plastic  substance  that  is  molded  by  the  fingers  into  images 
and  structures  that  typify  their  ideals  and  ideas.     It  is  the  con- 
crete expression  of  soul  and  intellect.     Great  achievements — 
the  handiwork  which  each  generation  leaves  behind  it — are  the  truest  in- 
dexes to  the  status  of  their  civilization. 

The  Americans  are  a  constructive — not  a  destructive  people.  Not 
only  has  their  inventive  genius  brought  forth  many  epoch-making  crea- 
tions, but  their  conquest  of  material  obstacles  is  surpassed  by  that  of  no 
other  race.  No  achievement  is  too  great  for  them  to  undertake;  no  diffi- 
culty seems  to  hold  them  dismayed;  they  do  not  hesitate  to  attempt  to  re- 
move the  "impossible"  and  transmute  it  into  the  "possible."  Thus  they 
bridge  rivers,  undermine  or  tunnel  mountains,  sever  continents,  and  make 
the  arid  desert  fertile  by  the  indomitability  of  modern  engineering. 

The  greatest  of  all  American  achievements  is  the  Panama  Canal, 
the  greatest  of  all  the  engineering  conquests  in  the  annals  of  man ;  a  per- 
petual memorial  to  the  American  courage  and  genius  that  triumphed 
where  all  other  nations  feared  to  tread  and  where  one,  the  most  resource- 
ful of  all,  had  gone  down  in  defeat.  Here,  the  Americans  by  might  and 
will  severed  the  Western  Hemisphere  into  two  continents;  by  the  magic 
of  American  skill  and  courage  the  waters  of  the  two  greatest  oceans  were 
to  rush  together  into  perpetual  wedlock.  It  is  a  new  milestone  in  the 
march  of  civilization.  It  was  a  day  of  triumph — October  loth,  1913 — 
when  President  Woodrow  Wilson,  seated  in  our  national  capitol  at  Wash- 
ington, pressed  a  button  which  hurled  an  electric  impulse  from  the  shores 
of  the  Potomac  to  the  mighty  Gamboa  Dike,  2,000  miles  away,  and  re- 
leased the  furious  power  of  40  tons  of  dynamite  which  hurled  the  barrier 
heavenward  in  scattering  clouds  of  earth  and  rock  and  leveled  the  last 

243 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

barrier  at  Panama  which  held  apart  the  surging  waters  of  the  Orient  and 
the  Occident. 

This  awe-inspiring  spectacle  marked  the  culmination  of  nine  years 
of  herculean  labor.  Its  thundering  tones  echoed  around  the  world  to  an- 
nounce the  practical  completion  of  the  most  colossal  wonder  of  human 
creation.  It  proclaimed  that  the  Americans  are  the  greatest  miracle  work- 
ers of  all  time,  and  it  placed  the  name  of  its  chief  builder,  Colonel  George 
Washington  Goethals,  a  native  of  Brooklyn,  New  York,  among  those  of 
the  immortals.  With  his  name,  too,  will  be  inscribed  that  of  his  fellow 
miracle  worker,  Colonel  William  Crawford  Gorgas,  the  Alabamian  who 
drew  the  deadly  disease  fangs  from  the  tropics  so  that  the  workmen  from 
the  north  could  exist  in  the  jungles  where  they  labored. 

This  mighty  achievement  has  been  the  dream  of  four  centuries.  Two 
decades  after  Columbus  landed  on  Watling's  Island  in  the  New  World, 
Balboa,  having  discovered  the  Pacific,  dreamed  of  a  strait  which  would  lead 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Sea  of  Cathay.  Then  came  in  1520,  Angel  Saeve- 
dra  with  the  startling  and  visionary  proposal  to  pierce  the  Isthmus  of 
Darien.  But  when  Antonio  Galvao  proposed  thirty  years  later  that  a 
canal  be  cut  through  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  he  brought  upon  his  head  the 
wrath  of  the  Spanish  king,  who  then  and  there  declared  an  embargo  upon 
such  ideas  under  the  penalty  of  death.  It  is  said  that  the  reason  was 
political.  However,  Spain  had  reconsidered  its  edict  by  the  year  1821  and 
was  about  to  begin  the  task  when  Latin  America  revolted  and  drove  the 
Castilians  from  the  Isthmus. 

The  tropical  Isthmus  of  Panama  had  long  defied  the  world.  It  drank 
the  life  blood  of  thousands  of  laborers  under  De  Lesseps,  the  French  engi- 
neer, and  it  swallowed  up  more  than  $260,000,000  in  money  and  machin- 
ery. It  was  in  the  epochal  year  of  1904  that  a  courageous  band  of 
American  engineers  swarmed  down  from  the  north  to  perform  the  miracle 
of  cutting  the  Western  Hemisphere  into  two  continents.  Armed  with  huge 
steam  shovels  and  steam  dredges,  electric  and  compressed  air  drills,  sticks 
of  dynamite  and  powerful  cranes,  carrying  enormous  tanks  of  oil  and 
petroleum  to  battle  with  the  deadly  mosquito  which  virtually  had  defeated 
the  French  canal  diggers,  they  began  the  long  conquest  of  nature  and  the 
elements. 

A  psean  of  industry  came  up  from  the  tropics,  drowning  out  the  cries 
of  scoffers.  The  full  orchestra  of  shovel  and  siren,  of  rendering  blasts  and 
crumbling  mountains,  silenced  the  criticisms.  Under  the  leadership  of  the 
gallant  American  engineers  the  workers  cleaved  the  neck  of  the  jungle  land 
and  slowly  cut  their  way  from  ocean  to  ocean.  Two  years  before  the 
fondest  dreams  had  predicted,  there  lay  in  the  words  of  Hudson  Maxim: 

244 


AMERICAN  TRIUMPHS  OF  ENGINEERING 

"An  ocean-way  that  cuts  in  twain  a  continent, 
Hewn  through  the  mountain's  primal  rock, 
And  through  the  shifting  shale,  the  mire  and  mud 
And  fickle  sand  of  marsh  and  swamp  and  plain; 
That  lifts  and  bears  the  burdens 
That  the  oceans  bear  in  giant  ships — 
A  half  the  freighted  commerce  of  the  world." 

So  it  is  that  to-day  the  mighty  Panama  Canal  changes  the  tide  of 
commerce.  It  lessens  the  journey  between  the  Orient  and  North  American 
ports  by  thousands  of  miles.  It  brings  San  Francisco  nearer  to  New  York 
by  7,873  miles;  Yokahoma  by  3,768;  Shanghai  by  1,876  miles;  Valparaiso 
by  3,747  miles,  and  Melbourne  in  Australia  by  2,770  miles.  This  mighty 
transformation  brings  San  Francisco  and  other  Pacific  ports  7,000  miles 
nearer  to  Liverpool  and  Hamburg.  It  takes  a  vessel  twelve  hours  to  pass 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  through  the  canal,  a  journey  of  about  fifty 
miles.  About  fifteen  of  these  lead  through  that  part  of  the  canal  which 
lies  at  sea-level,  and  the  remaining  distance  through  Gatun  Lake,  Miraflores 
Basin  and  the  three  sets  of  locks  at  about  eighty  feet  above  the  surface  of 
the  oceans. 

A  ship  following  in  the  course  of  the  setting  sun  approaches  through 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Skirting  a  huge  two-mile  break-water  which  guards 
the  entrance  of  the  Canal,  it  enters  a  channel  500  feet  wide  and  41  feet 
deep.  Scudding  through  Limon  Bay,  past  the  red-tiled  roofs  of  ancient 
Colon,  on  the  left,  the  ship  heads  direct  through  a  low-lying  garden  of 
tropical  verdure  lying  on  either  shore.  At  the  end  of  five  miles  appear  the 
mighty  walls  of  Gatun  locks,  the  most  stupendous  concrete  structure  ever 
created. 

This  is  the  first  of  the  series  of  locks  which  lift  the  heaviest  ship  afloat 
up  into  the  great  Gatun  Lake.  Its  portals  are  guarded  by  massive  steel 
doors  seven  feet  thick,  sixty-five  feet  wide,  eighty-two  feet  high  and  weigh- 
ing nearly  six  hundred  tons  each ;  yet  they  are  balanced  with  such  exquisite 
nicety  that  one  of  them  could  be  moved  by  a  hand  thrust.  Tremendous 
air-cushions  help  the  mighty  gates  to  hold  back  the  tons  upon  tons  of  water 
held  within  the  locks. 

The  gates  swing  open.  The  ship  passes  within  and  is  hidden  from 
sight.  The  massive  doors  close  again.  While  you  are  waiting  for  the 
inflowing  water  to  raise  you  to  the  level  of  the  floor  of  the  second  section 
of  the  locks,  look  about  you  upon  the  massive  walls.  It  is  a  huge  basin  of 
concrete,  1,000  feet  long  and  1 10  feet  wide  in  the  clear.  Beyond  the  huge 
wall  of  concrete,  on  your  left,  is  an  exact  duplicate  of  this  basin.  This 
dividing  wall  is  sixty  feet  thick,  and  built  into  it  at  the  top  is  the  titanic 
machinery  which  operates  the  locks.  Further  on  in  your  journey  you  will 

245 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

see  the  man-made  Niagara  which  supplies  the  power  in  the  form  of  elec- 
tricity. Beneath  the  keel  of  your  ship  is  the  floor  of  the  basin,  made  of 
concrete  and  as  enduring  as  a  mountain. 

The  ship  begins  to  move.  You  look  up  in  amazement.  The  doors  of 
the  second  section  of  the  locks  are  swinging  open.  Your  vessel,  probably 
weighing  30,000  tons,  has  been  magically  raised  twenty-eight  feet  while 
you  were  gazing  in  awe  at  the  stupendous  work  of  your  fellow-Americans. 
The  miracle  has  been  performed — simply  by  allowing  water  to  flow  into 
the  basin.  The  second,  and  the  third  lock  section  is  a  duplicate  of  the  first 
except  that  the  doors  are  slightly  shorter  and  consequently  weigh  several 
tons  less. 

What  is  this  that  greets  your  vision?  Your  ship  has  been  pulled  by 
a  powerful  electric  locomotive  running  along  the  concrete  wall.  At  this 
instant  it  sails  out  under  its  own  steam  into  the  170  square  miles  of  Gatun 
Lake.  Here  on  your  left,  looms  a  great  artificial  hill — it  is  the  gigantic 
Gatun  Dam.  The  waters  of  the  lakes  are  being  passed  off  through  a  huge 
spill-way  and  into  turbine  engines  which  create  the  power  to  operate  the 
machinery  of  the  entire  Panama  Canal.  This  mighty  dam  stretches  for 
one  and  two-thirds  miles,  looming  thirty  feet  above  the  normal  level  of  the 
lake,  and  is  one  hundred  feet  wide,  except  for  a  distance  of  one  thousand 
nine  hundred  feet  which  is  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet  wide. 
About  140,000  cubic  feet  of  water  flow  over  the  spill-wray  every  second. 

The  lake  itself,  nestling  under  the  green  carpeted  slopes  of  the  sur- 
rounding mountains,  is  large  enough  to  accommodate  the  entire  United 
States  Naval  fleet.  Through  this  great  inland  sea,  your  ship  will  speed 
under  its  own  steam  for  a  distance  of  thirty-two  miles  until  it  reaches  the 
closed  doors  of  a  single  lock,  the  Pedro  Miguel,  which  will  lower  the  vessel 
a  distance  of  thirty  feet  into  Miraflores  Basin.  A  short  distance  beyond, 
the  ship  enters  the  first  of  the  two  Miraflores  locks  and  is  lowered  twenty- 
seven  feet  into  the  second  lock  which  also  lowers  it  another  twenty-seven 
feet.  Then  the  mighty  steel  doors  are  flung  open.  The  ship  is  free  to  fly 
down  the  five-mile  avenue  leading  into  Panama  Bay — and  out  into  the 
waters  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

It  required  at  one  time  40,000  men  employed  in  building  the  Panama 
Canal.  Fifty-eight  hundred  men  were  employed  in  building  the  locks 
alone,  and  more  than  57,000  tons  of  steel  went  into  the  manufacture  of  the 
lock  doors.  The  huge  Gatun  locks  consumed  2,000,000  barrels  of  cement 
— and  5,000,000  barrels  were  used  in  constructing  all  the  locks  and  dams. 
Six  million  rivets  were  driven  in  the  construction  work,  while  212,514,138 
cubic  yards  of  earth,  rock,  mud  and  shale  were  dug  out  to  make  way  for  the 
new  highway  of  commerce  and  travel. 

246 


GREAT   SOUNDS  OF  THE  PACIFIC — This  is  a  view  of  Puget  Sound,  on  which  Tacoma,   "The 

City  of  Destiny,"  is  located  in  the  State  of  Washington — In  the  distance  rises 

snow-capped  Mount  Rainier  to  the  height  of  14,408  feet. 


CANAL  OF  THE  GREAT  LAKES — Sault  Sainte  Marie  Canal  which  connects  Lake  Superior  with 

Lake  Huron — It  is  but  1J  miles  in  length  and  its  volume  of  traffic  exceeds  that  of  any 

other  canal  in  the  world — Its  tonnage  exceeds  18,000,000  per  year. 


FAMOUS   AMKRK AN    IXVKXTORS— This    photograph  presents    one    of    tne    most    historic    occasions    in    tlie 

development    of    the    American    -Nation — It    is    the  first    meeting    of    the    Naval    Advisory    Hoard    of 

Inventions  in  October,  1915 — The  Board  was  selected   to   provide  plans   for   national  defense. 


1'LKIHIK    TIIKIK    liKNirs    TO    THEIR    COUNTRY — Here  we  see  the  genius  of  American  industry  offering 
its  services  to  the  nation  during  the  World  Crisis  in   1015 — At  the  desk   sit  Thomas  A.   Edison   and 
Josephus   Daniels,    Secretary   of   the   Navy — The  board  consists    of   twenty-three    members. 


GIGANTIC    I'.UIIHJES   AT    AMEUICA'S    METROPOLIS — r.rooklyn    Bridge,   7.580   foot   long;   cost 
about  $24,000.000 — Manhattan  Bridge,  0,855  foot  Ions,  cost  about  .^G.000.000 — Williams- 
burg  Bridge,   7,. '508  foot  long,   cost  ovor  $:>:{.000,<)<)<) — Queensboro   Bridge,   7,449 
feet  long,   cost  about   $1 8,000,000. 


GREAT  STEKL  AUCIIEI)  BUIIX1E  OVER  THE  MISSISSIPPI — .This  is  Eads  Bridge  at  St.  Louis, 

Missouri — It  was  begun  in  1S(>7  and  finished  in  1S74 — Over  fiOO  nion  were  prostrated 

during  the  work  and  13  died — Its  cost  was  about  *<>.500.000. 


AMERICAN  TRIUMPHS  OF  ENGINEERING 

The  Panama  Canal  cost  not  more  than  the  sum  estimated  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  work — $375,000,000.  It  is  a  sum  greater  than  Spain, 
Japan  and  Sweden  had  in  stocks  of  gold  in  the  year  that  it  was  opened. 
It  is  a  sum  over  seventy  thousand  times  greater  than  that  required  by 
Columbus  to  discover  the  Western  Hemisphere.  And  yet  it  is  only  about 
the  estimated  wealth  of  a  single  American  in  these  days  of  stupendous 
fortunes.  Moreover,  a  new  Panama  Canal  could  be  built  every  twelve 
months  with  the  money  consumed  by  fire  and  in  fighting  flames  every  year 
in  this  country.  These  are  days  of  colossal  figures  and  tremendous 
achievement. 

Americans  Build  the  World's  Greatest  Dams 

AMERICA  leads  the  world  in  great  hydraulic  engineering  achieve- 
ments.    American   dam   builders    erect   monstrous   bulwarks   of 
granite  and  concrete, — mighty  walls  ranging  across  rivers  two 
miles  wide,  to  flood  arid  lands,  or  to  store  up  water  for  a  thirsting  city,  or  to 
create  titanic  power  with  which  to  turn  his  industrial  wheels,  light  and  heat 
his  homes. 

The  world's  longest  dam  curbs  the  mighty  Mississippi  where  it  flows 
through  the  heart  of  our  nation.  It  is  a  bulwark  of  adamant,  completed 
in  1913,  a  worthy  foe  for  the  Father  of  Waters.  This  part  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, because  of  the  Des  Moines  Rapids,  was  one  of  the  most  dangerous 
for  navigators.  Our  Government  has  spent  $8,000,000  to  build  a  canal 
that  would  subdue  the  rapids,  but  in  vain.  To-day  our  great  dam,  stretch- 
ing between  Keokuk,  in  Iowa,  to  the  opposite  shore,  not  only  floods  these 
rapids  with  sufficient  water  to  cover  their  jagged  spurs,  but  it  backs  up  the 
river  for  a  distance  of  sixty-five  miles,  thus  forming  a  great  inland  sea  and 
generating  about  300,000  horse-power  of  electricity  with  which  to  light  and 
heat,  run  the  cars  and  turn  the  factory  wheels  of  cities  lying  within  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  the  lighting  plant.  It  is  the  longest  in  the 
world — nearly  two  miles  long.  The  power-house  alone,  built  into  the  dam 
itself,  is  more  than  a  third  of  a  mile  long. 

The  highest  dam  in  the  world  is  in  Wyoming.  The  Shoshone  is  325 
feet  high,  or  just  half  as  high  as  the  tallest  office  building  in  the  world. 
The  modern  dam  builders  are  men  of  great  daring.  They  must  have  the 
qualities  of  pioneers.  They  frequently  find  themselves  in  the  heart  of 
primeval  Nature,  almost  cut  off  from  civilization,  and  must  blaze  their  own 
wagon  roads  for  the  transportation  of  supplies  and  materials.  That  is 
what  they  did  when  they  built  the  great  Shoshone  dam.  The  road  ran  for 
eight  miles  and  in  many  places  tunneled  through  the  granite-ribbed  moun- 
tains. But  the  greatest  problem  was  the  torrent  of  water  plunging  through 

251 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

the  gorge  they  intended  to  dam.  Its  sheer  sides  towered  2,500  feet  above 
the  river  and  were  only  sixty  feet  apart.  The  river  dashed  through  the 
gorge  like  a  mill-race,  but  the  engineers  captured  and  led  it  through  a 
temporary  channel  above  the  gorge.  Then  in  the  dry  river  bed  they  ex- 
cavated a  ditch  eighty-seven  feet  deep  and  one  hundred  and  eight  feet  wide 
in  which  to  lay  the  foundations  of  the  dam  in  solid  rock.  On  this  founda- 
tion they  piled  the  dam  proper  until  its  top  reached  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
eight  feet  above  the  bed  of  the  river.  It  was  a  stupendous  task  and 
consumed  four  years'  of  time,  90,000  tons  of  granite  and  75,000  barrels  of 
cement. 

The  mighty  Roosevelt  Dam,  in  the  Salt  River  Canyon,  in  Arizona, 
rears  a  bulwark  of  granite  276  feet  high.  It  is  a  romance  of  civilization 
and  will  stand  as  an  enduring  memorial  to  the  united  efforts  of  white  men 
and  the  Gcronimo  Indians,  who  built  it.  Like  the  Shoshone,  it  lay  in  the 
heart  of  a  wilderness,  but  it  was  sixty  miles  from  the  nearest  railroad,  and 
this  space  of  primeval  forest  and  mountains  had  to  be  covered  with  a  wagon 
road.  Behind  the  dam  to-day  is  a  huge  lake  covering  16,329  acres.  If 
the  water  were  let  out,  it  would  cover  an  area  greater  than  the  State  of 
Rhode  Island  a  foot  deep.  Beneath  its  waters  lie  the  remains  of  the  little 
town  of  Roosevelt,  which  at  some  future  day  archseologists  may  discover 
and  learnedly  speculate  upon  its  fate. 

For  many  years  Colorado  had  the  highest  dam  in  the  world ;  that  was 
the  Cheesman,  which  blocks  the  south  fork  of  the  South  Platte  River.  Be- 
hind its  225  foot  granite  wall  lie  thirty  billion  gallons  of  water,  enough  to 
quench  the  thirsts  of  all  Americans  for  a  year,  allowing  a  gallon  a  day  for 
each  person.  In  the  Catskill  Mountains,  in  New  York,  there  is  another 
great  reservoir  of  water,  equal  in  capacity  to  Colorado's  great  storage 
supply.  It  is  the  Croton,  which  is  the  second  highest  in  America,  being 
297  feet  high.  Boston  gets  a  great  part  of  its  water  from  the  famous 
Wachusett  Reservoir,  whose  dam  is  207  feet  high,  which  is  equal  to  the 
average  sixteen  story  skyscraping  building. 

These  great  engineering  feats  prove  man's  control  over  nature. 
Whenever  the  necessity  has  arisen,  he  has  curbed  it;  and  when  he  needed 
its  power,  he  harnessed  it.  The  dam  indeed,  stands  as  a  colossal  monu- 
ment to  man's  subjugation  of  nature  to  his  requirements.  It  is  one  of  the 
proudest  trophies  of  our  civilization  and  through  it  we  have  to-day  our 
great  public  water  supplies.  Christopher  Christiansen,  of  Bethlehem, 
Pennsylvania,  began  to  construct,  in  1754,  what  was  to  be  the  first  public 
water  works  in  America.  Water  was  conveyed  by  pipes  from  springs  to  a 
cistern  350  feet  away.  A  wooden  pump  forced  the  water  from  this  to  a 
wooden  tank  in  the  town  square.  In  the  year  that  George  Washington  died 

252 


AMERICAN  TRIUMPHS  OF  ENGINEERING 

there  were  sixteen  public  water  plants  in  the  United  States.  The  develop- 
ment of  the  system  grew  quickly.  Streams  were  dammed  to  form  reser- 
voirs to  take  the  place  of  springs.  Instead  of  the  wooden  pipes,  metal 
ones  were  used.  When  Philadelphia  fitted  her  water  system  with  cast 
iron  piping,  in  1804,  she  attained  the  distinction  of  being  the  first  city  in 
the  world  with  such  equipment.  London  adopted  it  in  1820.  The  idea 
grew  rapidly.  Larger  and  larger  reservoirs  were  built.  The  areas  which 
they  drained  became  greater.  The  size  of  the  conveying  pipes  was  in- 
creased, till  finally  the  building  of  water  works  became  one  of  the  most 
important  branches  of  civil  engineering. 

Americans  Conquer  the  Power  of  Water — Great  Reservoirs 

AMERICAN  cities  to-day  all  have  modern  water  works  or  artesian 
wells.  The  Wachusett  Reservoir  in  Boston,  contains  sixty-three 
billion  gallons  of  water,  and  supplies  that  city.  The  city  of  San 
Francisco  gets  its  water  from  the  San  Mateo  Reservoir,  which  holds  thirty- 
one  billion  gallons.  New  York  depended  for  years  upon  the  Croton  Res- 
ervoir, with  a  capacity  of  thirty-one  billion  gallons,  until  it  was  decided  to 
construct  near  Kingston,  at  a  distance  of  over  seventy-five  miles  from  New 
York  City,  the  Ashokan  Dam  to  hold  back  one  hundred  and  twenty  billion 
gallons  of  water.  Five  hundred  million  gallons  will  daily  flow  through  a 
gigantic  aqueduct  that  is  built  cross-country,  over  mountains  and  under 
the  Hudson  River,  to  bring  water  into  the  homes  of  the  metropolis  of  the 
Western  Continent.  This  stupendous  system  will  cost  $200,000,000. 
The  water  will  have  pressure  enough  behind  it  to  flow  up  to  the  twenty- 
fourth  floor  of  the  skyscrapers.  The  deepest  well  in  the  world  used  for 
obtaining  water  is  located  at  Putnam  Heights,  Windham  County,  Con- 
necticut. It  goes  down  3,848  feet  and  gives  a  supply  of  two  gallons  of 
water  each  minute,  shooting  the  water  four  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
ground.  These  deep  wells  are  known  as  artesian  wells,  a  name  derived 
from  Artois,  where  they  were  first  used.  Brooklyn  obtains  78,000,000  gal- 
lons of  water  each  day  through  artesian  wells  and  many  other  towns  fare 
almost  as  well.  The  city  of  Buffalo,  New  York,  supplies  each  inhabitant 
an  average  of  two  hundred  and  thirty  gallons  of  water  a  day;  in  Pittsburg 
the  average  is  two  hundred  and  fifty  gallons. 

Human  life  depends  upon  water,  food,  and  air.  Air  we  get  without 
trouble;  food  we  get  with  a  little  more  exertion;  but  water  we  get  through 
elaborate  systems.  Yet  we  must  have  them — for  no  city  would  be  safe 
without  water  more  than  sixty  days.  Great  fortunes  are  being  made  in 
selling  water.  Big  corporations  have  gone  into  the  business,  and  millions 
of  dollars  are  invested  in  water  companies.  So  great  has  become  the  in- 

253 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

dustry  of  supplying  water  that  many  cities  have  started  their  own  reser- 
voirs, and  one  of  the  most  frequently  discussed  phases  of  American  politics 
is  the  municipal  ownership  of  water  plants — a  problem  that  sooner  or  later 
must  be  settled  in  every  town  in  the  United  States. 

The  creation  of  power  is  one  of  the  genii  of  American  civilization. 
In  the  early  years  we  took  it  out  of  the  winds ;  then  we  took  it  out  of  the 
rivers;  in  later  days  we  have  been  digging  it  out  of  the  earth  in  the  little 
black  nuggets  that  we  call  "coal."  Through  this,  we  have  created  steam, 
gas,  and  electric  power  for  our  machinery  and  our  domestic  appliances. 
But  in  about  five  hundred  years  the  world  will  be  without  coal — then  what 
shall  we  do?  Strange  to  say  we  shall  not  even  miss  it.  For  we  have 
already  found  a  substitute  that  is  inexhaustible — water.  There  is  power 
enough  in  our  rivers  and  lakes  to  keep  the  world  going  for  ages.  This 
wonderful  chapter  in  the  long  story  of  man's  conquest  of  Nature  is  just 
beginning.  We  are  setting  water  to  work  for  us ;  we  are  turning  its  energy 
into  power  that  we  can  use  in  a  thousand  ways  for  thousands  of  years. 
With  this  power  we  can  generate  electricity;  and  thereby  we  can  do  all 
that  we  have  been  doing  by  means  of  coal,  and  many  new  things  that  the 
minds  of  men  will  conceive. 

The  rivers  of  the  United  States,  great  and  small,  threading  their  way 
everywhere  through  the  land,  contain  a  hidden  force  alone  equal  to  about 
twenty-five  million  horse  power.  When  we  say  "horse  power,"  we  assume 
that  one  horse  can  raise  33,000  pounds  one  foot  per  minute.  Now,  ten 
million  such  horses  could  run  all  the  manufacturing  establishments  in  the 
United  States.  Water  power,  in  order  of  use,  must  be  concentrated  by 
violent  motion.  Nature  provides  this  process  in  one  of  the  most  notable 
instances  in  Niagara  Falls.  The  idea  of  "harnessing  Niagara"  is  startling 
at  first — it  sounds  almost  sacrilegious.  A  protest  arose  when  it  was  sug- 
gested that  its  waters  be  utilized  for  commercial  purposes.  The  vision 
evoked  of  a  Niagara  run  dry  astounded  the  Americans.  It  is  exactly  what 
is  said  to  have  been  foretold  ages  ago  by  an  Indian — that  one  day  the 
waters  would  vanish  and  expose  the  bare  shelf  of  rock  to  view.  That  day 
of  desecration  has  come. 

The  power  of  Niagara  is  almost  beyond  comprehension.  It  pours 
over  the  falls  twenty-five  million  tons  of  water  every  hour.  This  power 
would  be  sufficient  to  run  all  the  trains  in  the  country,  light  all  the  towns 
and  villages,  conduct  our  telephone  and  telegraph  service,  turn  all  our 
spinning  wheels,  and  operate  our  three  greatest  industries — all  at  the  same 
time.  The  power  of  Niagara  is  equal  to  the  power  that  can  be  generated 
from  all  the  coal  taken  from  our  mines  in  a  day, — the  power  of  seven 
million,  five  hundred  thousand  horses.  By  agreement  between  the  United 

254 


STATE  C  \PITOL  AT  R  \LEIGH,  NORTH  CAROLINA— This  State  has  an  area  of  52,426  square 
'     miles ;    (nearly %ial  to   Netherlands  and  Liberia  combined)-Its  population  is 
2.206,287   (larger  than  Republic  of  Cuba) — Original  State,  1789. 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  COLUMBIA,  SOUTH  CAROLIN  \      This  Stati-  has  an  area  of  30,989  square 

miles    (larger  than   Scotland)— Its  nopulatioii  is    1,515.400  (about  equal  to  the 

Republic  of  Ecuador) — Original   State  admitted  in   1<»». 


STATE   CAPITOL   AT   ATLANTA.    GEORGIA— This    State    has    nn    area    of   r. 0.205    square   miles 

(larger  than   England   and   Wales) — Its   population   is   2.009.121    (larger 

than    the    Kingdom    of   Norway) — Original    State   in    17«8. 


STATE    CAPITOL    AT    TALLAHASSEE.    FLORIDA — This    State   has    an    area    of   58,006    square 

miles   (larger  than  England  and  Wales) — Its  population  is  751.139   (larger 

than  South  Australia )— Admitted  to  the  Union  in   1845. 


AMERICAN  TRIUMPHS  OF  ENGINEERING 

States  and  Canada,  the  amount  of  water  to  be  diverted  from  Niagara  has 
been  limited  to  fifty-six  thousand  cubic  feet  a  second.  This,  without 
diminishing  appreciably  the  flow  of  the  cataract,  will  provide  power  equal 
to  that  of  fourteen  million  tons  of  coal,  which  it  requires  thirty  thousand 
miners,  working  for  a  year,  to  take  out. 

The  idea  of  "harnessing  Niagara"  is  one  of  the  most  astounding  in 
the  annals  of  man, — because  it  is  the  solution  of  the  great  problem  of  the 
future.  It  was  on  October  4th,  1890,  that  the  work  began.  The  first 
step  was  to  excavate  a  tunnel  two  hundred  feet  below  the  city  of  Niagara 
Falls.  The  tunnel  is  7,481  feet  long;  the  interior  dimensions  are  twenty- 
one  feet  by  eighteen  and  a  half  feet.  It  required  the  excavating  of  three 
hundred  thousand  tons  of  rock.  Sixteen  million  bricks  were  used  in  the 
lining.  The  water  is  taken  through  a  canal,  screened  to  exclude  floating 
ice  and  debris,  to  the  generating  station.  The  electrical  energy  here  gen- 
erated is  transmitted  to  a  distributing  station.  From  this  station  immense 
cables  convey  the  power  to  various  points. 

Imagine,  as  you  gaze  at  the  majestic  waterfall  rushing  in  its  eternal 
course,  that  its  power — its  very  spirit,  as  it  were — is  lighting  the  lamps  and 
moving  the  street  cars  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles  away  in  Syracuse. 
Around  the  Falls,  on  both  the  Canadian  and  American  sides,  a  large  manu- 
facturing district  has  sprung  up,  evoked  by  the  magic  power  of  these  waters. 
Niagara's  power  is  applied  to-day  to  everything,  from  great  steel  shops  and 
trolley  cars  to  ventilating  fans  and  sewing  machines.  The  modern  electric 
furnace  has  been  evolved  out  of  the  water  power  of  Niagara  Falls.  In 
this  way,  its  power  is  making  itself  felt  all  over  the  land,  and  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth,  with  a  vastness  and  complexity  of  operation  that  is  be- 
wildering. 

All  over  the  country  great  rivers  have  been  harnessed;  their  mighty 
force  is  being  gathered  in  power  plants  and  distributed  for  the  needs  of 
industry  and  agriculture.  The  water  power  in  actual  service  in  the 
United  States  is  now  doing  the  work  every  year  of  thirty-three  million  tons. 
Its  possibilities  are  vastly  increased  by  the  introduction  of  long  distance 
transmission  of  electricity.  You  need  not  move  to  the  power-plant — it 
stretches  out  its  arms  to  you. 

Americans  Triumph  Over  the  Desert — Irrigation 

MAN  is  indeed  the  conqueror.     One  of  the  greatest  of  all  his  con- 
quests is  the  triumph  over  the  deserts.     Through  the  power  of  his 
brain  and  brawn,  he  has  brought  to  fulfilment  the  prophecy  of 
ancient  times  that  the  "wilderness  shall  blossom  as  the  rose."     This  is  no 
longer  a  figure  of  speech. 

257 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

It  is  only  a  few  years  since  two-fifths  of  our  territory  was  in  the 
hands  of  an  enemy — not  more  than  ten  years — this  enemy  was  drought — 
and  the  weapon  with  which  he  is  being  beaten  back,  inch  by  inch,  is  irriga- 
tion. Vast  regions,  extending  over  the  length  and  breadth  of  our  Western 
States,  were  but  waste  and  unproductive  lands,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of 
water.  This  lost  empire  is  being  reclaimed.  It  was  in  1902  that  a  gi- 
gantic scheme  was  set  on  foot  by  the  Government  for  irrigating  these  arid 
regions.  A  start  was  made  with  twenty-five  projects,  involving  in  the 
aggregate  over  two  and  a  half  million  acres.  Then  began  the  construction 
of  those  magnificent  works  of  engineering  that  stand  as  perpetual  memorials 
of  American  skill  and  enterprise.  One  thought  must  have  thrilled  the 
engineer,  as  he  saw  the  giant  structure  growing  under  his  hands — what  it 
meant  to  the  surrounding  land ;  life  instead  of  death,  fecundity  in  place  of 
sterility,  a  panorama  of  fruitful  fields  and  waving  trees  replacing  arid 
wastes. 

What  would  be  the  feelings  of  a  modern  Rip  Van  Winkle,  who  had 
fallen  asleep  in  the  "Great  American  Desert"  a  dozen  years  ago,  if  he  were 
to  wake  to-day?  He  would  behold  a  transformation  appearing  miracu- 
lous. Where  had  been  a  dreary  expanse  of  arid  plain,  stretching  bare  and 
treeless  to  the  horizon,  he  would  behold  fields  of  waving  grain,  countless 
fruit-trees  laden  with  their  luscious  burden,  with  prosperous  farm  homes 
and  villages  lining  silvery  canals.  In  the  region  of  the  Truckee  River,  in 
Nevada,  was  a  lifeless  desert,  strewn  with  the  bones  of  animals  and  marked 
by  the  graves  of  countless  emigrants,  who,  on  their  long  and  toilsome 
journey  to  the  Pacific,  had  perished  of  thirst.  It  is  now  a  region  of  smiling 
fields,  with  prosperous  cities  springing  up  among  them.  Four  rivers  have 
been  linked  together  in  a  wonderful  scheme  of  irrigation,  and  their  waters 
spread  themselves  through  all  this  land. 

The  waterless  valleys  of  California,  through  which  the  weary  gold 
hunters  of  '49  struggled,  many  to  drop  and  die  of  thirst  almost  in  sight 
of  their  goal,  have  become  fair  vineyards  and  orchards  and  gardens,  whose 
products  find  their  way,  not  only  to  New  York,  but  to  far  distant  London 
and  Paris.  Think  of  what  has  been  done  in  the  Yakima  Valley,  in  the 
State  of  Washington,  where  a  territory  of  350,000  acres  has  been  reclaimed 
by  the  waters  of  the  great  Sunnyside  canal.  Or  in  the  Shoshone  Valley, 
where  a  territory  of  476,000  acres  is  watered  to  a  depth  of  one  foot.  On 
the  "Great  American  Desert"  in  Kansas,  a  few  years  ago,  as  far  as  the  eye 
could  reach,  there  was  nothing  but  a  dreary  expanse  of  flat,  treeless  prairie ; 
there  was  hardly  any  rain ;  hot  winds  swept  the  country.  But  it  was  found 
that  there  was  an  abundance  of  water  under  ground.  Wells  were  sunk,  and 
the  water  was  pumped  into  reservoirs  by  means  of  windmills.  Monster 

258 


AMERICAN  TRIUMPHS  OF  ENGINEERING 

crops  are  grown  and  the  yield  of  the  fruit  trees  is  prodigious.  Trees, 
indeed,  grow  on  all  sides,  where  trees  never  grew  before. 

This  great  work  of  reclamation  has  made  substantial  progress.  Two- 
thirds  of  the  first  scheme  of  twenty-five  projects  is  completed,  at  a  cost  of 
nearly  $80,000,000.  When  it  is  finished,  it  is  proposed  to  start  on  thirteen 
further  projects,  dealing  with  over  three  and  a  half  million  acres.  But, 
in  addition,  7,000,000  acres  have  already  been  put  under  water  by  private 
enterprises.  It  is  hoped  to  reclaim  in  time  at  least  30,000,000  acres. 
This  would  give  an  eighty  acre  farm  to  each  of  375,000  persons.  The  irri- 
gation scheme  has  greatly  affected  the  population  of  the  districts  in  question. 
Hundreds  of  towns  have  arisen.  More  than  800,000  farms  are  now  under 
irrigation. 

It  is  inspiring  to  think  what  this  blessing  of  irrigation  means  to  the 
country.  A  million  new  and  prosperous  American  homes ;  the  relief  of  the 
congestion  of  the  cities ;  billions  added  to  the  wealth  of  the  nation.  This  is 
what  the  magic  of  irrigation  has  done  and  is  doing,  and  it  promises  still 
greater  surprises  for  the  future. 

Americans  Bridge  the  Rivers  and  Mountain  Passes 

THE  bridging  of  mighty  rivers  is  another  triumph  of  modern  civiliza- 
tion.    A  half  century  ago,  monster  bridges  did  not — could  not, 
exist.     To-day   i,ooo-foot  steel  and  iron  spans  demand  elabo- 
rate calculations  of  the  mathematician,  the  best  skill  of  the  chemist  and 
metallurgist,  the  keen  judgment  of  the  engineer,  the  vast  resources  of  the 
financier,  and  the  mighty  strength  of  powerful  engines  and  the  weird  in- 
genuity of  marvelous  machine-tools  directed  by  trained  mechanics.     Not 
the  least  requisite  is  the  physical  and  moral  courage  of  the  bridge-builder. 

In  this  generation  you  will  find  American  bridges  in  all  parts  of  the 
world.  They  span  deep  rivers,  lakes,  harbors  and  ravines.  They  weld 
cities  and  states,  cross  international  boundary  lines,  create  and  increase 
commerce  and  level  its  barriers,  modify  despotic  political  power,  ameliorate 
social  conditions,  multiply  property  value  many  fold,  and  save  thousands 
of  lives.  Long  steel  spans  are  built  to  sustain  without  a  tremor  the  weight 
of  a  plunging  express  train  as  it  dashes  across  a  wide  river  or  deep  chasm. 
This  type  of  bridge  dates  from  about  the  beginning  of  our  American  Civil 
War. 

The  pioneer  structure  in  modern  bridge  building  is  the  bridge  which 
was  thrust  across  the  Mississippi  flood  at  St.  Louis,  by  James  B.  Eades, 
without  for  an  instant  interrupting  the  heavy  river  traffic,  and  before  the 
science  of  estimating  weights  and  pressures  as  they  relate  to  bridges  was 
fully  understood. 

259 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

The  first  Niagara  bridge  was  the  first  railway  suspension  bridge  in  the 
world;  it  was  built  in  1853  by  John  A.  Roebling,  when  the  world's  greatest 
engineers  were  declaring  that  it  was  impossible  to  span  the  Niagara. 
Erecting  two  mighty  masonry  towers  on  opposite  banks,  Roebling  slung 
four  huge  steel  cables  across  and  from  these  suspended  a  roadway  and  a 
railroad  track  two  hundred  and  forty  feet  above  the  rapids.  When  the 
slender  wire  threads  of  the  cables  threatened  to  give  out,  a  new  bridge  was 
projected,  and  this  was  the  most  marvelous  feat  of  all.  The  new  structure, 
a  steel  arch  bridge  with  its  arches  resting  on  either  shore,  was  actually 
built  without  disturbing  traffic  for  more  than  a  few  minutes  at  a  time  and 
when  completed  had  been  built  around  the  old  bridge. 

When  you  voyage  up  the  historic  and  picturesque  Hudson  River,  you 
pass  under  the  famous  cantalever  railroad  bridge  at  Poughkeepsie,  built  in 
1889.  To  erect  the  five  mighty  spans  of  this  structure,  the  engineers  built 
five  tiers  of  staging  on  the  surface  of  the  river,  which  when  completed 
appeared  like  a  modern  skyscraper  before  its  dress  of  brick  and  stone  is 
applied. 

Crossing  the  Missouri  River,  at  Omaha,  is  the  world's  greatest  draw 
bridge  with  a  single  span  of  five  hundred  and  twenty  feet,  while  the 
longest  fixed  span  of  the  type  known  as  truss  span  reaches  across  the  Ohio 
River  at  Louisville. 

Out  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  where  our  American  bridge  builders 
have  performed  some  of  their  most  magical  work,  is  the  highest  bridge  in 
the  world.  The  floor  of  the  roadway  is  made  of  glass  so  that  the  tourist 
may  look  down  to  the  seething  waters  2,627  ^eet  below.  This  is  the  bridge 
in  Colorado  which  crosses  the  beautiful  Royal  Gorge. 

In  the  heart  of  the  city  of  Chicago  are  several  bridges,  which  at  the 
approach  of  a  steamer  along  the  Chicago  River,  quickly  rise,  just  as  the 
feudal  baron's  drawbridge  did  before  his  castle.  These  are  known  as  the 
"rolling  lift"  bridge.  Though  these  huge  spans  weigh  sometimes  as  much 
as  5,000,000  pounds  each  they  literally  raise  themselves  to  an  upright 
position  in  less  than  a  minute — it  requires  powerful  machinery  to  pull  them 
down  again  to  form  the  bridge  across  the  river. 

Even  historic  Albemarle  Sound,  in  North  Carolina,  has  been  bridged. 
Here  a  railroad  span  runs  for  five  continuous  miles  across  the  water  between 
Edenton  and  Mackey's  Ferry.  What  the  North  Carolinians  have  done, 
Calif ornians  are  planning  to  repeat.  They  are  planning  to  join  the  cities 
of  San  Francisco  and  Oakland  with  a  monster  bridge  over  San  Francisco 
Bay,  to  be  nearly  nine  miles  long.  Anywhere  you  travel  throughout  our 
land  you  will  find  the  magic  structures  of  the  bridge  builders.  They  are 
made  of  iron  or  steel  or  of  concrete.  The  largest  of  the  concrete  structures 

260 


Ill  1 1 


Ill 11 1  <  1 1 
I II I 

ill  Hi  in 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  JACKSON,  MISSISSIPPI— This  State  has  an  area  of  46,865  square  miles 

(larger  than  Republic  of  Cuba) — Its  population  is  1,797,114  (larger  than  Porto 

Rico,   Hawaii,  and  Costa  Rica  combined) — Admitted  in  1817. 


STATE   CAPITOL  AT   MONTGOMERY,   ALABAMA— This   State  has   an   area   of  51,998  square 

miles  (larger  than  Republic  of  Nicaragua) — Its  population  is  2,138.093   (larger  ' 

than  Republic  of  Cuba) — Admitted  to  the  Union  in   1819. 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  ST.   PAUL,  MINNESOTA— This   State  has  an  aroa  of  84,682  square  miles 

(about  equal   to   Greece   and    Ireland    combined) — 'Its   population    is    2,075,708 

(nearly  equal  to  Norway) — Admitted  In  1858. 


STATE    CAPITOL   AT    DES   MOINER,    IOWA— This    State   has   an    aroa   of   50,147    square   miles 

(nearly   equal   to  Greece  and   European   Turkey) — Its   population    is    2,224,771 

(nearly   equal   to  Republic  of  Bolivia) — Admitted   in    1.«46. 


AMERICAN  TRIUMPHS  OF  ENGINEERING 

in  the  world  is  that  which  our  Government  built  in  the  National  Capitol  at 
a  cost  of  $850,000;  it  is  known  as  the  Connecticut  Avenue  bridge  and  is 
fifteen  hundred  feet  in  length. 

No  other  city  in  the  United  States  has  such  tremendous  bridges  as  span 
the  rivers  about  New  York  City.  Here  still  stands  the  famous  old  Brook- 
lyn Bridge,  which  John  Roebling  completed  in  the  year  1883,  now  accom- 
panied by  three  other  larger  bridges.  It  has  been  a  faithful  servant  to  the 
cities  it  joins.  When  the  bridge  was  twenty  years  old  it  was  found  that  fif- 
teen times  as  many  people  passed  over  it  daily  than  when  it  was  first  erected. 
What  it  means  to  the  cities  is  revealed  in  the  fact  in  the  year  1904  more 
people  passed  from  shore  to  shore  than  live  in  the  whole  United  States — 
about  30,000,000  more.  That  meant  a  traffic  for  the  year  of  about 
120,000,000.  In  a  single  day  more  people  passed  over  it  than  live  in  the 
State  of  Vermont,  or  in  Lisbon.  At  one  period  of  the  day  54,000  people 
crossed  it  in  an  hour's  time.  For  many  years  this  was  the  world's  greatest 
suspension  bridge.  To-day  four  great  structures  stretch  across  the  rivers 
connecting  New  York.  The  Queen's  Bridge  is,  with  its  approaches,  about 
three  miles  long  and  hangs  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  above  the  water; 
it  cost  about  $20,000,000. 

Americans  Tunnel  Under  Cities  ^  Rivers  and  Mountains 

THE  titanic  achievements  wrought  by  American  engineers  culminate 
with  the  tunnel  builders — piercing  the  hearts  of  mountain  ranges, 
or  delving  beneath  swollen  floods,  driving  shafts  through  moun- 
tain or  river  so  that  an  hour  or  a  few  miles  may  be  taken  from  the  time 
schedule  of  some  transcontinental  railroad. 

Modern  mountain  tunneling  can  be  said  to  date  from  the  year  1856. 
It  was  in  that  year  that  a  courageous  band  of  engineers  and  tunnel  workers 
pitted  their  strength  and  wits  against  the  southern  spur  of  the  Green 
Mountains  in  Western  Massachusetts.  To  their  aid  they  brought,  for  the 
first  time  in  America,  electricity,  nitro-glycerine,  air  compression,  and  power 
rock  drills.  They  divided  into  four  armies,  two  starting  on  either  side  of 
the  mountain  and  two  more  digging  down  from  the  top  in  the  center  of  the 
ridge.  Sixteen  years  later,  the  last  smoke  of  the  battle  cleared  away,  and 
a  yawning  hole  nearly  five  miles  long  led  through  the  solid  rock.  It  was 
about  twenty  feet  high  and  wide  enough  to  permit  the  laying  of  two  rail- 
way tracks.  It  had  been  a  fierce  battle  and  it  had  cost  nearly  $1 1,000,000 
in  money.  But  it  had  made  possible  that  great  railroad  system  now  run- 
ning between  Massachusetts  and  Troy,  New  York,  by  way  of  the  famous 
Hoosac  Tunnel. 

That  was  the  beginning;  since  then  the  tunnel  builders  fearlessly  at- 

263 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

tack  the  most  unpromising  project.  They  have  burrowed  a  tunnel  through 
the  mighty  Cascade  Mountain  Range  in  Northwestern  Washington  for  a 
distance  of  about  three  miles.  They  have  cut  through  the  vitals  of  the 
Wasatch  Mountains  with  a  series  of  tunnels  whose  combined  length  meas- 
ures about  fifty  miles.  In  Southwestern  Colorado,  they  have  tapped  the 
mountains  by  the  famous  Gunnison  Tunnel,  through  which  a  former  un- 
derground river  is  made  to  deliver  its  precious  water  to  the  surrounding 
valleys.  In  California  the  Big  Bend  Tunnel,  two  miles  long,  drains  the 
Feather  River.  And  now  they  are  performing  the  task  of  driving  Ameri- 
ca's longest  tunnel,  six  and  a  quarter  miles  long,  through  the  backbone  of 
the  Continental  Divide  in  Colorado,  for  the  purpose  of  saving  sixty-four 
miles  in  the  railroad  journey  across  the  continent,  and  twenty-three  miles 
between  Denver  and  Salt  Lake  City,  as  well  as  saving  a  2,5oo-foot  climb 
over  the  crest  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

The  marvelous  subterranean  railway  system  of  the  American  metropo- 
lis— the  tunnels  and  subways  of  New  York — are  the  greatest  achievements 
in  tunnel  building.  Nearly  a  billion  people  are  carried  underneath  the  city 
every  year.  There  are  nearly  one  hundred  miles  of  track  under  New  York 
and  Brooklyn,  and  within  a  few  years  there  will  be  four  times  as  much 
more.  The  pioneer  genius  of  this  mighty  achievement  was  the  American, 
John  B.  MacDonald,  and  he  spent  nearly  $75,000,000  in  building  and 
equipping  the  present  subway.  The  new  one  will  cost  in  the  neighborhood 
of  $300,000,000.  Boston  has  an  excellent  subway  system.  And  Chicago 
has  a  unique  underground  freight  system  underlying  her  business  district 
and  covering  more  than  fourteen  miles.  It  is  designed  to  transport  mer- 
chandise from  warehouse  to  store  and  from  store  to  the  railroad  freight 
stations. 

The  greatest  engineering  feat  was  that  which  the  young  Tennessee 
lawyer,  William  G.  McAdoo,  performed  when  he  drove  his  railroad  tubes 
underneath  the  Hudson  River,  thus  connecting  New  York  with  New  Jer- 
sey. For  eight  years  he  and  his  engineers  and  "ground-hogs"  pitted  their 
strength  against  the  swollen  floods  over  their  heads.  Foot  by  foot,  occa- 
sionally stopping  to  plaster  up  the  roof  of  their  tunnel  where  the  river  had 
torn  through,  they  drove  by  hydraulic  pressure  a  huge  steel  shield  through 
rock  and  silt,  linking  together  the  great  steel  rings  of  the  tubes  as  each  two 
foot  section  was  cleared  away.  It  was  a  mighty  battle,  but  in  the  year 
1910  the  tunnel  was  complete  and  the  first  public  train  rumbled  from  the 
heart  of  New  York  to  the  shore  and  thence  down  under  the  great  river 
and  up  again  to  the  New  Jersey  shore. 

Like  New  York,  Boston's  suburban  influx  every  day  overtaxed  her 
ferry  service.  Consequently,  Boston  has  a  tunnel  a  mile  and  a  half  long 

264 


AMERICAN  TRIUMPHS  OF  ENGINEERING 

reaching  from  the  city  proper  to  East  Boston  and  running  beneath  a  part 
of  Boston  Harbor.  But  one  of  the  most  unique  tunnel  constructions  con- 
nects the  city  of  Detroit  with  the  Canadian  city  of  Windsor.  An  American 
railroad  expert,  William  J.  Wilgus,  studied  the  peculiar  problems  pre- 
sented by  the  Detroit  River,  where  nearly  as  much  traffic  passes  as  in  the 
Suez  Canal.  He  conceived  the  idea  of  dredging  a  furrow  in  the  river  bed, 
similar  to  that  which  the  farmer  plows  across  his  field.  Then  the  tunnel 
tubes  were  made  in  sections.  These  were  taken  out  on  floats  to  their 
proper  positions  and  lowered  into  the  furrow.  Divers  then  descended  and 
fastened  the  sections  together,  while  concrete  was  later  poured  into  the 
furrow,  until  the  tubes  rested  in  veritable  solid  rock. 

One  of  the  most  modern  engineering  feats  is  the  plan  of  New  York 
for  taking  its  water  from  the  Catskill  Mountains.  These  mountains  lie  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  Hudson  River.  The  problem  of  conducting  the 
water  across  appeared  easy  until  one  far-sighted  person  suggested  the 
possibility  of  some  foe  in  the  future  being  able  to  destroy  with  a  single 
stick  of  dynamite  any  bridge  or  aqueduct  erected.  Out  of  this  possibility 
grew  the  marvelous  tunnel  which  carries  the  water  underneath  the  river  to 
the  further  shore.  It  lies  like  a  huge  syphon,  in  the  form  of  the  letter  U, 
the  perpendicular  shafts  delving  through  solid  rock  more  than  1,000  feet 
below  the  river's  surface.  Then  the  lateral  shaft,  also  dug  in  solid  rock, 
mostly  granite,  strikes  straight  across  the  river  to  the  other  side  and  then 
upward.  On  its  journey  to  the  distant  city  the  Catskill  water  travels 
through  four  other  tunnels  whose  aggregate  length  is  about  fifteen  miles, 
leading  under  the  Rondout,  Walkill  and  Moodna  rivers  and  under  Croton 
Lake. 

The  art  of  tunnel  building  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  engineering  sciences. 
The  Egyptians  and  ancient  tribes  of  India  dug  them  to  bury  their  noble 
dead.  The  Assyrians  built  one  under  the  Euphrates  River,  by  diverting 
the  river  through  a  temporary  channel  and  returning  it  to  its  original  bed 
when  the  tunnel  had  been  bricked  in.  The  greatest  engineers  of  the  ancient 
days  were  the  Romans — while  to-day  the  Americans  are  performing  feats 
that  give  them  large  claims  to  distinction. 

Americans  Erect  Modern  Cities  of  Granite  and  Steel 

THE  Americans  have  done  some  wonderful  things  but  their  most  co- 
lossal achievement  is  the  Twentieth  Century  city — modern  towers 
of  Babel.     The  streets  looked  like  canyons  lying  deep  between 
the  gigantic  walls  of  masonry.     The  crowds  passing  through  them  were 
like  ants  in  comparison — and  yet  they  had  built  it  with  their  own  hands. 
We  build  our  massive  structures;  lightning  plays  about  their  towers;  the 

265 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

storms  beat  against  them;  the  earthquakes  rumble  beneath  them.  And  if 
perchance  they  fall,  we  throw  them  up  again  greater  and  more  daring  than 
before — as  if  to  challenge  nature. 

When  great  cities  sprung  into  existence,  becoming  more  and  more 
crowded,  a  new  problem  began  to  develop.  Where  were  all  the  industries, 
upon  which  depended  the  greatness  of  these  modern  cities,  to  be  housed*? 
The  builders  of  the  Middle  Ages  had  fashioned  lofty  church  towers  only 
for  the  sake  of  beauty.  Now  it  was  necessary  to  raise  tall  structures  be- 
cause there  was  no  room  to  spread  them  over  the  ground — they  must  reach 
up  toward  the  skies,  where  space  is  illimitable.  Land  was  becoming  very 
scarce  in  great  cities  like  New  York,  Chicago,  and  Philadelphia.  Men  saw 
the  only  way  to  build  tall  structures  was  to  use  steel.  So,  about  1880,  a 
new  era  was  inaugurated — and  America  became  a  leader  in  a  new  kind  of 
architecture.  Huge  skeletons  of  steel  were  erected,  and  these  supported 
everything  within  and  without;  about  them  were  built  the  gigantic  walls  of 
masonry.  These  huge  buildings  were  first  regarded  with  doubt  but  soon 
they  ceased  to  be  an  experiment  and  the  new  age  of  the  skyscraper  was 
ushered  in.  The  skylines  of  the  cities  assumed  a  majestic  ruggedness. 
Each  builder  strove  to  outdo  the  others.  The  twenty-story  structure  was 
soon  overshadowed  by  the  building  of  thirty  stories.  Soon  came  defiant 
structures  of  forty  and  fifty  stories.  Where  the  race  will  end  no  one  dare 
predict. 

The  building  of  the  skyscraper  is  in  itself  a  miracle.  It  does  not  take 
hundreds  of  years  and  tens  of  thousands  of  men  like  the  pyramids.  It  does 
not  take  decades.  It  is  only  a  matter  of  days.  Day  and  night  the  toil 
goes  on.  Drills  burrow  a  hundred  feet  into  the  earth  to  reach  bed  rock. 
A  battery  of  derricks  is  put  into  place,  huge  machines  that  lift  tons  and 
tons  of  steel  with  no  seeming  effort.  At  midnight,  when  the  streets  are 
deserted,  mighty  steel  beams  are  delivered  on  ponderous  wagons  ready  to 
be  used  by  the  iron-workers.  The  gaunt  steel  skeleton  almost  leaps  into  the 
air.  After  the  erection  of  every  ten  stories,  the  derricks  are  raised.  The 
relentless  noise  of  riveting  machines  fills  the  air.  By  sunlight  one  gang 
of  men  ply  their  trade;  by  electric  light  another  gang  continues.  While 
the  upper  stories  of  the  frame-work  are  put  into  place,  stoneworkers  and 
bricklayers  are  completing  the  lower  stories.  It  has  been  estimated  that  at 
times  the  work  goes  on  at  the  rate  of  a  story  a  week.  The  framework  of  a 
large  New  York  building,  containing  22,000,000  pounds  of  steel,  was 
erected  in  only  four  hundred  hours.  To  the  glory  of  the  contractors  be  it 
said  that  as  a  rule  these  colossal  buildings  are  erected  with  almost  no  loss 
of  life.  The  laborers  walk  and  work  on  narrow  steel  beams  600  feet  and 
more  above  the  sidewalk. 

266 


STATE   CAPITOL  AT   JEFFERSON   CITY,  MISSOURI — This   State  has   area  of  09.420  square 

miles   (larger  than  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  Hawaii  combined) — Population  3,293,335 

(larger  than  Norway  and  South  Australia  combined) — Admitted  in  1821. 


STATE   CAPITOL  AT    LITTLE   ROCK,   ARKANSAS — This    State   has   an  area    of  53,335   square 

miles    (larger  than   Republic  of  Guatemala) — Its   population   Is   1,574,449 

(larger  tban  Ecuador) — Admitted  to  Union  in  1830. 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  AUSTIN,  TEXAS — .This  State  lias  an  area  of  ^05,«yG  square  miles    (larger 

than  the  German  Empire  in  Europe,  England  and  Wales  combined) — Its  population 

is  3,81)0,542   (larger  than  Switzerland) — Admitted  in  1845. 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  RATON  ROUGE,  LOUISIANA — This   State  has  an  area  of  4R.50G  square 

miles   (ahout  equal  to  Rulgaria  and  Montenegro) — Its  population  Is  1,656,385 

(larger  than  Republic  of  Hay ti)— Admitted  to  the  Union  ID  1812, 


The  highest  building  in  the  world  is  the  Woolworth  Building  in  New 
York,  the  city  of  skyscrapers.  Its  foundations  are  laid  in  its  lowest  sub- 
basement  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  beneath  the  sidewalk,  and  its  flag 
floats  905  feet  higher.  It  towers  fifty-five  stories  high;  46,000,000 
pounds  of  steel  were  used  for  its  skeleton;  17,000,000  bricks  are  mortared 
in  its  walls,  together  with  2,500  square  feet  of  cut  stone  and  7,500  tons  of 
terra  cotta.  The  building  contains  1,800,000  square  feet  of  floor  tiles  and 
the  same  area  of  partition  tiles.  There  are  twenty-six  elevators,  each  so 
made  that  were  it  to  drop  from  the  top  floor  it  would  automatically  come 
to  a  gentle  stop  long  before  it  reached  the  bottom. 

The  modern  skyscraper  is  a  veritable  city  in  itself,  containing  an 
actual  population  greater  than  that  of  many  flourishing  communities.  The 
tenant  of  one  of  the  great  office  buildings  may  live  in  his  room  year  in  and 
year  out  and  still  enjoy  all  the  comforts  of  life.  A  restaurant  on  the  top 
floor  serves  his  meals.  Downstairs  there  are  stores  of  all  kinds.  There  are 
news-stands  and  even  theatres.  There  are  barbers  in  the  basement,  and 
there  are  tailors  and  confectioners,  doctors  and  lawyers,  brokers  and  bankers 
— all  trades  and  occupations  within  immediate  call.  Some  of  the  sky- 
scrapers have  gymnasiums  on  the  roof.  These  buildings  are  inspiring  to 
behold,  full  of  dignified  beauty.  When  we  remember  that  some  of  the 
great  European  Cathedrals  took  six  and  seven  centuries  to  build,  we  will 
gaze  with  even  greater  wonder  upon  these  newer  edifices,  which  spring  from 
the  earth  in  a  year. 

This  record  of  American  achievements  might  well  continue  to  occupy 
this  entire  book  and  many  other  volumes,  but  this  rapid  survey  is  sufficient 
to  demonstrate  at  least  the  indomitable  will,  the  courage,  the  daring,  and 
the  skill  with  which  the  American  people  attempt  gigantic  tasks  and  bring 
them  to  brilliant  culmination — the  triumph  of  the  American  spirit. 

American  Genius  Erects  World's  Greatest  Seaports 

THE  building  of  great  seaports  and  erecting  huge  walls  to  hold  out 
the  oceans  is  one  of  the  daring  American  achievements.  The 
builder  of  seaports  and  their  modern  accessories  is  a  soldier  in  the 
battle  against  the  destructive  elements.  They  erect  bulwarks  for  those 
cities  which  are  threatened  by  tidal  waves  and  the  like;  and  carve  a  way 
to  the  sea  for  those  which  are  barricaded  by  Nature.  After  Galveston, 
Texas,  was  wiped  out  in  1900,  and  at  least  6,000  people  were  killed,  the 
hydraulic  engineers  walled  in  the  city  from  the  Gulf  with  a  four-mile  con- 
crete and  granite  sea-wall  resting  upon  subterranean  piles  and  planks  to 
prevent  the  sea  from  undermining  the  wall.  They  lifted  the  city  up  out 
of  the  path  of  danger,  in  some  places  elevating  it  as  much  as  seventeen  feet. 

269 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

It  required  a  little  more  than  a  year  to  build  this  wall,  which  is  a  barrier  as 
solid  as  a  mountain,  and  it  stands  sixteen  feet  high  and  sixteen  feet  wide  at 
the  base,  while  a  boulevard  runs  the  whole  length  of  the  wall.  It  required 
13,1 10  car-loads  of  sand,  crushed  granite,  cement  and  timber,  and  100,000 
tons  of  granite  blocks,  some  of  which  weigh  a  ton  each,  for  the  riprap 
before  the  wall.  Seventeen  million  tons  of  sand  were  poured  into  Galves- 
ton.  That  is  enough  to  make  five  pyramids  as  big  as  the  Egyptian  Cheops. 
You  would  have  to  load  every  human  being  in  Europe  with  100  pounds  of 
sand  each  to  carry  this  away  in  one  trip.  The  cost  was  about  $2,000,000. 
During  a  hurricane  in  1909  this  wall  held  back  the  Gulf  and  saved  Galves- 
ton  from  suffering  another  $18,000,000  property  loss.  A  giant's  causeway 
connecting  Galveston  with  the  mainland  was  erected  in  1912  at  a  cost  of 
$2,000,000.  It  is  a  beautiful  structure  of  concrete  and  steel,  and  its  low 
arched  bridges  resemble  those  "moles"  which  the  Romans  built  to  enclose 
their  harbors.  It  is  nearly  a  half  mile  long,  and  has  a  loo-foot  lift  bridge 
to  permit  vessels  to  enter  Galveston  Bay.  It  combines  a  railroad  system, 
a  roadway,  and  a  promenade,  and  leads  to  beautiful  plazas  at  either  end. 
Thus  Galveston  was  rescued  by  American  engineers  from  a  debris-strewn 
sand  pit  and  made  over  into  the  third  greatest  seaport  in  the  United  States. 

The  American  who  drew  the  fangs  from  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  and  consequently  made  of  New  Orleans  the  second  greatest  seaport 
in  our  nation,  is  Elmer  Lawrence  Corthell,  one  of  the  world's  greatest 
hydraulic  engineers,  who  has  constructed  $100,000,000  worth  of  seaports 
and  has  added  a  billion  dollars  to  the  commerce  of  the  world.  He  believed, 
with  James  B.  Eads,  that  if  he  could  confine  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi 
through  one  of  the  three  mouths  between  narrow  dikes,  the  river  would 
carry  away  the  alluvial  soil  that  had  choked  up  the  pass.  He  was  right, 
as  was  proven  when  the  steamship  Vulcan  proudly  steamed  up  Little  South- 
west Pass  on  May  12th,  1877,  and  thence  into  deep  water  without  having 
touched  bottom.  The  Mississippi  was  opened  to  commerce ;  New  Orleans 
became  a  great  seaport,  Eads'  reputation  and  money  were  saved,  and 
Corthell's  reputation  was  made. 

The  world's  greatest  seaport,  in  point  of  value  of  commerce,  is  the 
natural  land-locked  harbor  of  New  York.  Its  water-front  is  estimated  at 
748  miles,  or  a  distance  equal  to  that  between  New  York  and  Cincinnati. 
It  had,  in  1912,  more  than  350  miles  of  wharves  for  the  world's  commerce 
carriers  to  unload  their  cargoes.  Nature  provided  abundantly  for  this  vast 
fleet  of  merchant-marine,  but  there  was  some  room  for  improvement.  One 
of  the  most  remarkable  engineering  feats  was  the  making  of  the  Ambrose 
Channel,  which  lessens  the  journey  to  Europe  by  six  miles.  This  is  cut 
through  a  bar  in  the  Lower  Bay  and  is  1 ,000  feet  wide,  forty  feet  deep,  and 

270 


AMERICAN  TRIUMPHS  OF  ENGINEERING 

nearly  eight  miles  long.  More  than  100,000,000  tons  of  earth,  mud,  and 
sand,  an  amount  equal  to  a  third  of  that  dug  from  the  Panama  Canal,  was 
taken  out  by  dredges  during  the  ten  years  of  operations,  which  cost  about 
$4,000,000.  If  that  amount  of  material  were  dug  out  for  an  inland  canal 
fifty  feet  wide,  fifteen  feet  deep,  it  would  result  in  a  waterway  nearly  500 
miles  long — a  distance  equal  to  that  between  New  York  and  Columbus, 
Ohio. 

Millions  of  dollars  have  been  poured  into  New  York  Harbor  for  im- 
provements to  accommodate  its  fleet  of  commerce  carriers.  Plans  were 
laid  in  1912  to  spend  $34,000,000  to  subdue  the  treacherous  rocks  of  Hell 
Gate,  so  that  ocean  liners  can  come  into  port  through  Long  Island  Sound, 
and  to  dredge  the  Hudson  River  so  that  i,ooo-foot  steamships  can  safely 
navigate  to  their  piers. 

The  world  has  never  witnessed  such  activity  as  is  now  going  on  among 
our  American  seaports.  Boston  is  spending  $12,000,000  to  improve  her 
harbor;  Baltimore  has  spent  $6,500,000  since  her  disastrous  fire  on  docks 
and  piers;  the  Southern  States  and  cities  are  also  spending  fortunes.  Out 
along  the  Pacific  Coast  our  engineers  are  creating  wonderful  harbors.  Los 
Angeles  will  have  spent  before  the  year  1922  more  than  $13,000,000  to 
build  up  a  twenty-three  mile  water-front;  at  San  Francisco,  the  State- 
owned  docks  are  being  extended  at  a  cost  of  $1,000,000;  Oakland  is  putting 
$3,000,000  into  the  municipal  docks,  while  San  Diego  is  having  her  State 
docks  improved  at  a  cost  of  $1,500,000.  To  the  northward,  Seattle  and 
Portland  are  putting  touches  to  Nature's  handiwork,  so  that  they  can  ac- 
commodate the  flood  of  Oriental  commerce  coming  to  their  shores. 

American  Genius  Connected  Hemispheres  with  the  Cables 

THE  most  far-reaching  American  achievement  has  been  the  connect- 
ing of  the  hemispheres  by  laying  cables  under  the  oceans  and 
bringing  the  world  into  almost  instant  communication.  The  idea 
of  flashing  messages  along  the  bottom  of  the  seas  came  from  Cyrus  W. 
Field,  to  whom  the  conception  of  the  ocean  cable  came  as  a  sudden  in- 
spiration. It  was  in  the  year  1850;  he  was  talking  with  his  brother, 
Matthew,  about  the  possibility  of  laying  a  telegraph  cable  across  the  Straits 
of  Newfoundland.  At  that  time,  the  cable  had  not  been  laid  across  the 
English  Channel,  connecting  France  with  England,  and  the  possibility  of 
an  ocean  cable  had  not  been  dreamed.  Field,  then  a  rich  retired  merchant, 
suddenly  turned  to  his  brother  and  said: 

"Why  cannot  America  and  Europe  be  joined  by  cable?" 
His  mind  brooded  over  this  great  idea,  and  in  the  meantime  the  cable 
joining  England  and  the  continent  of  Europe  had  been  laid. 

271 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

It  was  in  August,  1857,  that  the  first  momentous  step  was  taken  in 
linking  together  the  two  hemispheres.  Two  ships — the  Niagara,  an  Ameri- 
can naval  vessel,  and  the  Agamemnon^  of  the  British  navy,  left  Valencia, 
Ireland,  in  company,  each  carrying  a  section  of  the  first  Atlantic  cable. 
One  year  later — on  August  i8th,  1858 — Queen  Victoria  sent  the  first  cable 
message  under  the  Atlantic  to  President  Buchanan.  It  was,  very  naturally, 
an  occasion  of  great  international  rejoicing.  This  first  cable  had  been  laid 
from  Ireland  to  Newfoundland;  it  was  2,000  miles  in  length,  and  it  had 
cost  Field  and  his  company  $2,000,000,  and  the  cable  message  of  twenty 
words  cost  $100. 

The  Old  World  and  the  New  had  been  brought  together.  But  un- 
expected trouble  arose.  Even  in  the  midst  of  Field's  great  personal 
triumph,  the  cable  suddenly  ceased  to  work.  No  one  knew  what  was  the 
matter,  or  how  to  find  out,  but  the  calamity  bankrupted  the  company. 
With  indomitable  energy,  Field  set  about  to  organize  a  new  company,  but, 
before  he  could  succeed,  the  United  States  was  plunged  into  the  Civil  War, 
and  he  had  to  wait.  He  chartered  the  Great  Eastern  in  1865  and  began 
paying  out  a  new  cable  from  Ireland  to  Newfoundland.  More  trouble  en- 
sued. When  the  Great  Eastern  had  arrived  within  two  hundred  miles  of 
Newfoundland,  at  one  of  the  deepest  points  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  the  cable 
parted,  and  more  than  a  million  dollars  was  lost  in  the  sea.  Even  then, 
the  indomitable  Field  did  not  give  up.  The  following  year,  he  sent  out 
the  Great  Eastern  again  to  lay  a  new  cable.  At  last  success  was  his.  Not 
only  was  the  cable  laid,  but  the  cable  that  had  been  lost  the  year  before  had 
been  recovered. 

Since  the  first  working  ocean  cable  was  laid  in  1866,  more  than  two 
hundred  and  forty  thousand  miles  have  been  laid  under  the  seas,  and  every 
important  seaport  city  on  this  globe  has  cable  connection  with  the  rest  of 
the  world.  The  two  longest  ocean  cables  are  the  British  cable  from  Mel- 
bourne to  Vancouver  and  the  American  cable  from  San  Francisco  to  Manila. 
The  latter  is  over  7,000  miles  long  and  touches  Hawaii,  Midway  Island, 
and  the  Island  of  Guam.  It  connects  all  the  American  possessions  in  the 
Pacific.  Within  the  last  forty  years,  no  one  agency  has  exerted  a  greater 
influence  upon  the  life  of  the  world  than  has  the  cable.  It  has  revolu- 
tionized international  policies  and  diplomacy.  Who  can  estimate  the  effect 
of  the  cable  on  business?  Billions  of  dollars  in  the  world's  commerce  now 
depend  directly  upon  the  cable.  Before  the  Atlantic  cable,  there  was  little 
or  no  business  in  international  stocks  and  Wall  Street  did  not  take  its 
present  commanding  place  in  the  financial  world  until  the  cable  enabled 
it  to  get  into  close  touch  with  the  London  market.  Now  there  is  daily  over 
a  hundred  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  business  on  the  world's  cables. 

272 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  OKLAHOMA  CITY,  OKLAHOMA— This  State  has  an  area  of  70,057  square 

miles  (about  equal  to  Scotland  and  Liberia  combined) — Its  population  is  1,657,155 

(larger  than   Republic  of  Ecuador) — Admitted  in   1907. 


STATE   CAPITOL  AT    SANTA   FE,   NEW   MEXICO— This   State   hus  an   area  of   122,634   square 

miles  (larger  than  the  Philippines  and  Alsace-Lorraine  combined) — Population  327,301 

(nearly  equal  to  Luxemburg  and  Iceland  combined) — Admitted  in   1912. 


D  EXI/ARATION 


,  />  ^  WAITED    STATES 


. 

She.  »xnv*-»i  S   #vt 


J?  jfacA. 

.  ' 

&^™**^"""><^^ 


^ 


ORIGINAL  DRAFT  OF  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE — This  bears  the  signature  of  the  dele 
the  Continental  Congress  who  signed  the  document — It    is    interesting    to    note    the    alterations 
developed  during  the  discussion  over  the  exact  phraseology. 


UGHT     BY    JEFFERSON   OF  THE 


>Jnly  1776. 


*?!®S^^ 

*^L^Vxm/-ii-   *<r>^»ips_/^»-fcrf_  .*  ^ -A  W     n  AT?  44.  t'j  ^  *  ir..    /  f~  —     Jt  4  *_A~*-. •#-__   _  ^_  _-rf 


TT^^^Z-^^^^^W*^*^^ 
ittt-  ««>^fv^*xe/«<v^4(, /luCt  /Kid  «<//< 

^^5^2 

»»  U/h<rvr^1\  . 

Wfca^Kt"  ^A^,  U^rtiv  < 


CjK  4t^-^>.-bnrt$**,ru*»f^ 


••  <rf fifK+jtsMsnf  T-e^Jvr**  'to  f»a^J  atXa-tt 

gtl  •      i  -f  sJjf)L.J    sft>L*LLJ 


"  ' 


^WRITING  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON — This  document  was  engrossed  for  permanent  record — The  orig- 
ial  is  treasured  in  the  archives  of  the  Government — It  had  a  greater  effect  upon  the  world  than  any 

other  document  ever  written. 


STATE   CAl'lTOL   AT    LINCOLN,    NKr.RASKA  — This    State    lias    an    area    of    77..~.ii<)    square 
(about  equal   to  Greece  and    Ireland) — Its   population   is   1, !!>'_', l!14    (about  equal   to 
Republic  of  Salvador) — Admitted  to  I'nion  iu   1SG7. 


miles 


STATK 


.  —  Stnto    lins    nn    nron    of    S2.1.r,S    squaro    miles 

(about  equal   to  Greece,    Hayti.   and   Costa    Kira   combined)  —  Its   population    is 
1,690,949  (larger  tban  New  South  Wales)  —  Admitted  to  the  Tnion  in  1861. 


PART  IV  CHAPTER  VII 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INDUSTRIES 


"O,  it  is  excellent 

To  have  a  giant's  strength,  but  it  is  tyrannous 
To  use  it  like  a  giant." 

— Shakespeare. 


*T  •  ^HE  race  of  vigour,  not  by  vaunts  is  won,"  exclaimed  Pope. 
It  is  difficult  to  relate  with  moderate  restraint  the  progress  of 
the  American  in  the  industrial  arts  and  sciences.  We  can 

"*"  only  say  with  Burke  that  "he  that  wrestles  with  us, 
strengthens  our  nerves  and  sharpens  our  skill;  our  antagonist  is  our 
helper." 

Every  civilization,  and  every  age  of  human  progress,  is  gauged  by 
its  power  to  create  new  and  more  serviceable  forms  for  the  aspiring  spirit 
of  man  to  work  in  and  express  itself.  Only  by  the  fashioning  of  forms 
does  the  mind  of  an  individual  or  of  a  nation  learn  to  know  itself  and 
realize  its  destiny.  We  are  a  great  industrial  people — the  precursors  of 
the  Industrial  Age — because  we  are  a  democratic  people.  Manufacturing 
is  the  democracy  of  art.  It  is  every  man's  craft  in  which  to  learn  to  use 
the  mind  and  hand  for  the  ultimate  creation  of  "life,  liberty  and  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness."  That  is  why  America  is  the  greatest  manufacturing 
nation  of  the  world. 

Every  American  is  a  product  of  liberty,  and  he  aspires  either  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously  to  express  that  freedom  in  his  daily  toil.  Thus, 
he  strives,  in  metals,  in  woods,  in  earths,  in  leathers,  in  furs,  in  oils,  in 
all  the  chemical  compounds  and  in  all  the  naked  elements  themselves,  to 
liberalize  and  emancipate  his  soul,  and  to  develop  the  God  in  him.  Amer- 
ica is  expressing  itself  in  a  hundred  thousand  mills,  factories,  and  shops, 
in  the  ever-increasing  skill,  efficiency,  patience,  endurance  and  self-control 
of  millions  of  men  and  women,  toiling  at  machines. 

Our  factories  alone  are  kingdoms  with  populations  larger  than  many 
nations.  There  are  more  people  at  work  over  the  benches  in  our  manu- 
facturing establishments  to-day  than  there  are  in  all  of  the  kingdoms  of 
Greece,  Norway,  and  Switzerland  combined;  or  Portugal  and  Denmark 
combined;  or  Switzerland  and  Servia.  The  population  of  our  factories 
is  larger  than  that  of  Egypt,  or  Sweden,  or  Belgium,  or  Bulgaria,  or  Ar- 
gentina, or  Rumania,  or  Chili  and  Peru  combined,  or  the  six  nations  of 

277 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

Venezuela,  Bolivia,  Ecuador,  Cuba,  Uraguay,  and  Paraguay  combined. 

It  is  a  vast  empire  of  machinists  and  mechanics  which  labors  under  our 
industrial  system  to  create  the  products  that  give  us  our  national  supremacy. 
This  brawn  and  brain  of  the  laboring  people  form  the  structure  of  our 
civilization.  Twenty-five  years  ago  the  United  States  became  an  export 
manufacturing  nation.  Fifteen  years  ago  a  number  of  its  industries  had 
grown  to  giant  size.  Five  years  ago  it  had  attained  complete  supremacy 
in  output  in  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the  world's  great  industries.  To-day 
it  leads  the  world  in  iron  and  steel,  in  automobiles,  agricultural  machinery, 
electric  goods  and  machinery,  flour  and  the  milling  industry,  lumber,  paper 
and  wood  pulp,  petroleum,  printing  and  publishing,  meat  packing,  boots 
and  shoes,  cordage,  cotton  goods,  soap,  sugar,  woolens,  dyeing  and  finishing 
textiles,  machine-tools,  and  both  heavy  and  light  machinery. 

America  has  no  formidable  rivals  in  this  industrial  age.  This  fact 
more  than  anything  else  has  changed  the  whole  relation  of  America  to  the 
world.  It  has  given  us  a  great  foreign  trade  in  manufactured  goods  in 
competition  with  other  nations  and  it  is,  moreover,  giving  us  a  world  con- 
sciousness, a  new  outlook  on  other  peoples  and  nations,  and  a  new  foreign 
policy.  It  is  taking  the  provincialism,  the  narrowness  and  the  feeling  of 
separateness  out  of  our  imaginations  and  creating  for  us  a  sense  of  world 
responsibility  and  leadership.  This  is  what  our  surplus  manufactures  in 
iron  and  steel,  in  bridges,  sewing-machines,  typewriters,  reapers,  and  plows, 
beef  and  bacon,  petroleum  and  locomotives  are  doing  for  us  and  for  the 
world. 

The  magnitude  and  power  of  our  great  manufacturing  industries  are 
so  colossal  that  it  is  difficult  to  get  any  real  conception  of  them  in  figures. 
There  are  nearly  300,000  manufacturing  establishments,  which  give  em- 
ployment to  nearly  10,000,000  persons.  These  establishments  pay  over 
$5,000,000,000  in  wages  and  salaries  yearly  and  they  produce  goods  worth 
$20,000,000,000.  Of  this  vast  sum  more  than  $10,000,000,000  is  added 
by  the  skill  of  the  laborer  and  his  machine,  as  the  raw  material  costs  about 
$5,000,000,000. 

During  the  ten  years  from  1899  to  1909  the  number  of  establishments 
increased  29.4  per  cent.;  the  capital  employed  105.3  Per  cent.;  the  average 
number  of  wage  earners  40.4  per  cent. ;  the  amount  of  primary  power  85 ; 
the  value  of  the  material  consumed  84.6  per  cent. ;  the  value  of  the  product 
81.2  per  cent.,  and  the  value  added  by  manufacture  76.6  per  cent.  The 
gross  value  of  products  in  1909  exceeded  that  of  1899  by  9,000,000,000. 
It  has  been  estimated  that  the  gross  value  of  all  the  manufactured  products 
of  the  United  States  will  reach  the  enormous  sum  of  $25,000,000,000  in 
1920. 

278 


It  is  estimated,  as  outlined  in  another  chapter,  that  the  United  States 
possessed  $150,000,000,000  of  national  wealth  in  1914;  Great  Britain 
$85,000,000,000,  Germany  $80,000,000,000,  France  $50,000,000,000, 
Russia  $40,000,000,000.  What  is  it  that  contributes  most  to  swell  the 
wealth  of  the  American  people1?  It  is  our  manufactures.  Our  agricul- 
ture, though  a  big  item  in  our  national  wealth,  is  limited.  Our  mining, 
another  big  source  of  the  nation's  wealth,  is  also  limited.  The  value  of  our 
manufactures,  now  exceeds  them  both,  because  with  the  advance  of  civiliza- 
tion an  ever  increasing  percentage  of  crude  commodities  has  to  pass  through 
the  factory  and  mill  to  be  prepared  for  a  more  refined  use.  Fifty  years 
ago,  men  did  not  dream  of  eating  cotton  seed  oil  for  food  or  making  varnish, 
or  paint  out  of  petroleum,  or  paper  out  of  wood,  or  saccharine  out  of  coal 
tar. 

Every  time  the  sun  has  risen  on  this  great  republic  since  1910  its  rays 
have  shone  on  $16,000,000  of  new  wealth  that  was  not  in  existence  twenty- 
four  hours  before  and  our  great  manufacturing  industries  are  now  con- 
tributing the  largest  item  in  that  sum.  Within  five  years  our  factories  have 
added  nearly  as  much  to  our  wealth  as  the  little  kingdom  of  Belgium  was 
worth  at  the  beginning  of  the  European  War,  or  nearly  half  as  much  as  the 
whole  kingdom  of  Italy  is  worth,  or  nearly  one-fourth  of  that  of  the  whole 
empire  of  Russia,  or  one-fifth  of  that  of  the  rich  republic  of  France. 
We  take  four  billion  dollars  out  of  our  fields,  mines,  and  forests,  and  al- 
most treble  them  in  our  mills.  We  have  not  only  in  many  lines  become 
the  first  of  manufacturing  nations  but  we  are  fast  approaching  the  days 
of  becoming  the  first  of  commercial  nations — that  is,  the  greatest  ex- 
porters of  manufacturing  commodities.  The  die  is  cast.  Our  great, 
teeming  cities,  containing  nearly  half  our  population  and  ever  growing, 
have  determined  our  future.  We  are  to  become  the  world's  greatest  work- 
shop and  mart. 

Beginning  of  the  Industrial  Age  in  America 

LET  us  go  back  into  the  years  and  watch  the  steady  rise  of  the  indus- 
trial age.     When  Alexander  Hamilton  submitted  his  celebrated 
"Report  on  Manufacturing"  to  Congress  in  1791,  practically  every 
family  in  our  country  supplied  most  of  its  own  needs.     In  New  England, 
the  cradle  of  American  manufacturing,  some  families  began  to  make  more 
than  they  needed  and  sold  their  goods  to  others.     Tanneries,  iron  shops, 
furniture  factories,  and  houses  for  making  boats  and  docks,  for  building 
ships  and  various  other  manufacturing  establishments,  sprang  up  to  meet 
the  needs  of  neighborhoods,  villages,  and  groups  of  communities. 

But  the  American  people  from  1800  to  1850  were  on  the  move,  push- 

279 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

ing  back  the  frontier  at  sunset,  driving  on  into  the  West  till  they  had  come 
to  the  water's  edge  of  the  Pacific.  During  these  five  most  eventful  dec- 
ades, the  family  loom  and  spinning  wheel,  the  cobbler  and  the  little  shop 
supplied  most  of  the  needs  of  a  nation  in  the  throes  of  its  birth.  When 
this  great  movement  reached  the  Mississippi  River  in  1840,  the  line  was 
growing  long,  and  compact  settlements  stood  wide  apart.  The  railroad 
had  now  become  an  absolute  necessity.  A  railroad  calls  for  a  factory — 
and  factories  came.  The  new  farms  of  the  valleys  called  for  the  plow  and 
the  reaper — and  they  came.  The  nation  now  had  to  be  built  and  the  great 
problem  was  to  free  as  many  people  as  possible  from  the  toils  of  agriculture 
to  do  other  work. 

Then  came  the  Civil  War  and  it  tremendously  stimulated  the  de- 
mands for  manufactures.  Accompanied  as  it  was  by  a  high  tariff  to 
raise  revenue  for  the  Government,  it  gave  a  great  impetus  to  the  building 
of  factories.  Agriculture  was  the  chief  source  of  wealth  until  1880.  But 
the  country  became  a  manufacturing  nation  from  1880  to  1890  and  since 
then  manufacturing  has  dominated  our  national  politics  and  the  policy  of 
the  Government.  The  great  corporations  and  combines  from  1890  to  1905 
grew  out  of  this  dominance  of  manufacture.  According  to  Mulhall,  we 
produced  in  manufacturing  in  1900  about  half  as  much  as  all  Europe  com- 
bined. We  had  greatly  increased  our  lead  in  1910  and  our  manufactured 
products  are  now  worth  more  than  those  of  Great  Britain,  Germany, 
France,  and  Austria  combined. 

One  of  the  secrets  of  the  great  power  of  American  industries  to 
produce  their  enormous  output  is  due  to  the  inventions  described  in  another 
chapter.  In  over  90  per  cent,  of  the  mills,  when  it  is  possible  for  machin- 
ery to  do  the  work  of  hands,  machinery  is  in  use;  therefore,  an  American 
factory  employee  does  three  and  even  four  times  more  work  reckoned  by 
output  than  an  English  operative.  The  American  workman  uses  machine 
tools  whenever  it  is  possible,  while  English  workmen,  up  to  the  beginning 
of  the  great  European  War,  generally  failed  to  do  so.  The  Germans  use 
these  machine  tools  now  very  extensively,  having  some  twenty  years  ago 
begun  the  adoption  of  American  machinery  methods. 

We  witness  the  rapid  rise  of  American  industries  during  the  last  quar- 
ter of  the  last  century.  During  this  period  the  growth  of  production  of 
manufactures  in  the  United  States  was  $5,932,000,000,  while  in  England, 
Germany,  and  France  combined  it  was  $3,833,000,000.  The  percentage 
of  increase  for  the  United  States  was  85  per  cent,  and  for  the  three  Euro- 
pean countries  combined  42  per  cent.  The  actual  figures  for  the  consump- 
tion of  three  of  the  most  important  articles  ultilized  in  manufacturing  for 
each  of  the  countries  in  question  for  this  term  of  years  show  the  tremen- 

280 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  BISMARCK,  NORTH  DAKOTA— This  State  has  an  area  of  70,837  square 

miles  (about  equal  to  Republic  of  Uruguay) — Its  population  is  577,056  (larger  than 

Kingdom  of  Montenegro) — Admitted  to  the  Union  in  1889. 


STATE    CAPITOL    AT    PIERRE,    SOUTH    DAKOTA— This    State   has   an   area   of   77,615    square 

miles  (larger  than  Scotland  and  Greece  comhined) — Its  population  is  583,888  (nearly 

equal  to  Republic  of  Nicaragua) — Admitted  to  Union  in  1889. 


STATIC    CAPITOL   AT    KKLKNA,   MONTANA — This    State   has   an   area   of    14<>,'.>!»7   square  miles 

(larger  than   continental    Italy   and   Ireland)  —  Its   population   is   :{76,053    (about   equal 

to   the   Republic  of   Panama) — Admitted   in    1889. 


STATE   CAPITOL  AT   ROISE,   IDAHO— This    State   has   an   area  of  83,888   square  miles    (about 

equal    to    Korea) — Its    population    is    325.54!}    (about    equal    to    the   Island 

of  Crete)— Admitted  to  the  Union  in  1890. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INDUSTRIES 

dous  advance  of  the  American  nation.  The  three  articles — cotton,  pig- 
iron,  and  coal — supply  in  their  consumption  a  better  measurement  of  indus- 
trial manufacturing  activity  than  any  other  data  available  in  countries 
which  take  no  census  of  manufactures.  The  figures  presented  in  the  annual 
report  of  the  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  show  that  the  actual  increase 
in  cotton  consumption  in  the  United  States  in  the  last  twenty-five  years 
of  the  last  century  was  1,026,917,226  pounds,  as  against  an  increase  of 
but  883,653,016  pounds  in  the  United  Kingdom,  Germany,  and  France 
combined,  the  percentage  of  increase  in  the  United  States  being  107  per 
cent.,  as  against  46  per  cent,  in  the  three  European  countries  combined.  In 
pig-iron  consumption,  the  actual  increase  in  the  United  States  was 
15,263,454  tons,  as  against  an  increase  of  11,518,000  tons  in  the  four 
countries,  the  United  Kingdom,  Germany,  France,  and  Russia  combined; 
while  the  percentage  of  increase  in  the  United  States  is  437  per  cent.,  as 
against  an  increase  of  102  per  cent,  in  the  four  European  countries  com- 
bined. In  coal  consumed,  the  actual  increase  in  the  United  States  was 
247,214,000  tons,  as  against  an  increase  of  175,301,000  tons  in  the  four 
countries,  the  United  Kingdom,  Germany,  France,  and  Russia,  combined; 
and  the  percentage  of  increase  in  the  United  States  is  364  per  cent.,  as 
against  an  increase  of  82  per  cent,  in  the  four  European  countries  combined. 

Considering  the  actual  quantities  of  these  three  great  articles  con- 
sumed, the  figures  for  1914  are:  Cotton  consumption,  5,649,000  bales 
(each  bale  500  pounds)  in  the  United  States,  against  4,300,000  bales  in 
the  United  Kingdom,  6,000,000  bales  on  the  Continent  of  Europe,  the  total 
amount  consumed  in  the  United  States  thus  exceeding  by  about  33  per 
cent,  that  of  the  United  Kingdom  and  being  far  in  excess  of  that  of 
Germany  and  France  combined. 

The  total  production  of  pig-iron  in  the  United  States  in  1912  was 
29,798,927  tons,  against  17,868,900  tons  in  Germany,  8,751,461  tons  in 
the  United  Kingdom,  and  4,938,324  tons  in  France — the  production  of 
the  United  States  being  thus  nearly  double  that  of  Germany  and  consider- 
ably more  than  treble  that  of  the  United  Kingdom.  Of  coal  production, 
the  figures  for  the  United  States  are  575,048,125  tons,  as  against 
321,922,130  tons  for  the  United  Kingdom,  281,979,467  tons  for  Ger- 
many, 45,108,544  tons  for  France,  and  31,752,744  tons  for  Russia,  the 
production  of  coal  in  the  United  States  being  thus  nearly  double  that  of 
the  United  Kingdom  and  fully  double  that  of  Germany. 

The  one  country  of  Europe  in  which  the  figures  of  growth  begin  to 
approximate  those  of  the  United  States  is  Germany,  which  shows  in  the 
case  of  coal  consumption  an  increase  of  174  per  cent.,  against  364  per  cent, 
in  the  United  States;  in  pig-iron  consumption,  an  increase  of  366  per  cent. 

283 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

against  437  per  cent,  in  the  United  States ;  and  in  cotton  consumption,  an 
increase  of  170  per  cent.,  as  against  107  per  cent,  in  the  United  States. 
In  actual  consumption,  however,  Germany  shows  an  increase  in  coal  of 
but  99,234,000  tons,  as  compared  with  247,214,000  tons  in  the  United 
States;  in  pig-iron,  an  increase  of  7,095,000  tons,  as  against  15,263,454 
tons  in  the  United  States;  and  in  cotton,  an  increase  of  513,676,000  pounds 
as  against  1,026,917,226  pounds  in  the  United  States. 

But  it  is  not  alone  to  high  tariff,  great  combines,  and  the  general  use 
of  machinery  that  the  supremacy  of  America  in  manufacturing  must  be 
attributed.  These  have  been  great  auxiliary  factors  but  the  people  who 
settled  this  country  were  naturally  creators  and  inventors  and  their  de- 
scendants are  so  to  a  still  greater  degree.  Especially  was  this  true  in 
New  England  where  the  people,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  beginning,  showed 
great  aptitude  for  making  things  to  meet  their  growing  needs.  The  har- 
nessing of  the  rivers  was  one  of  the  greatest  achievements  in  American 
history. 

Causes  of  America's  Supremacy  as  an  Industrial  Nation 

AN  inventory  of  the  causes  of  our  greatness  as  a  manufacturing  nation 
may  be  grouped  under  the  following  heads.  First  stands  the  native 
genius  of  the  people,  referred  to  above.  Second:  agricultural 
resources;  third:  mineral  resources.  There  are  separate  chapters  on  these 
factors  in  this  volume.  It  is  plain  that  a  country  which  produces  nine- 
tenths  of  the  world's  cotton,  one-third  of  its  coal,  one-fourth  of  its  iron-ore, 
one-half  of  its  copper,  and  a  similar  generous  share  of  many  other  things, 
such  as  lumber,  grain,  hides,  and  petroleum,  has  a  great  advantage  in  the 
matter  of  raw  materials  upon  which  to  set  labor  and  capital  at  work. 

Another  important  factor  in  the  development  of  American  industries 
was  the  canal  system,  a  magnificent  but  now  scarcely  used  system  of  navig- 
able rivers  amounting  to  18,000  miles,  and  a  highly  important  system  of 
Great  Lakes  waterways  extending  for  1,000  miles  and  carrying  a  tonnage 
"equal  to  nearly  40  per  cent,  of  that  of  the  entire  railroad  system  of  the 
United  States."  The  greatest  factor  is  our  railway  system,  constructed 
with  great  rapidity  between  1860  and  1880. 

As  an  example  of  American  ingenuity,  we  may  cite  the  invention  of 
the  system  of  interchangeable  parts,  which  has  made  possible  the  use  of 
complex  machinery  in  agriculture  or  other  industries  at  a  distance  from 
machine  shops  or  the  point  of  original  manufacture.  Activity,  skill,  and 
willingness  characterize  the  best  type  of  American  workmen,  and  this 
willingness  is  shown,  in  part,  by  a  readiness  to  migrate  to  those  places 
where  manufacture  can  be  carried  on  most  economically.  The  organizing 

284 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INDUSTRIES 

ability  of  American  capitalists  cannot  be  doubted.  There  is  scarcely  an 
industry  upon  which  the  peculiar  genius  of  the  American  has  not  wrought 
an  effect. 

The  introduction  of  machinery  has  changed  our  whole  economic  sys- 
tem. In  food  manufacture  we  began  with  the  slowly  revolving  millstone, 
but  Oliver  Evans  originated  the  system  of  automatic  conveyors  now  in 
use.  When  later  this  was  coupled  with  the  middlings  purifier,  also  of 
American  origin,  and  the  Hungarian  roller  process  in  a  modified  form,  the 
modern  mill  first  became  a  reality.  Here  the  factory  system  was  first  ap- 
plied to  the  making  of  cheese  and  butter,  resulting  in  the  cheese  factory 
and  creamery.  An  instance  of  a  wonderful  application  of  machinery  to  a 
complex  process  is  afforded  by  our  slaughtering  and  meat-packing  estab- 
lishments. While  the  production  of  beef  extract  in  South  America  is 
reputed  to  be  one  of  the  most  wasteful  industries  in  existence,  involving  the 
destruction  of  an  entire  carcass  of  beef  to  produce  a  few  pounds  of  extract, 
the  American  method  with  beef  and  pork  products  is  based  upon  the  utmost 
despatch  through  the  division  of  labor,  continuous  refrigeration  from  fac- 
tory to  consumer,  and  the  utilization  of  every  product  so  that  there  is  no 
waste.  It  has  been  said  that  "the  packer  gets  everything  out  of  the  hog 
but  its  squeal,  and  this  he  gets  out  of  the  public." 

In  textile  manufacture  we  are  now  the  second  nation  in  the  world  in 
the  number  of  cotton  spindles  operated,  and  first  in  the  amount  of  cotton 
fibre  used.  In  iron  and  steel  manufacture,  we  long  since  passed  our  chief 
rival,  Great  Britain.  It  was  an  old  axiom  for  many  years  that  the  manu- 
facture of  steel  could  only  develop  where  coal  and  ore  were  together. 
iYet  Chicago,  very  distant  from  ore  and  coal  supplies,  is  the  seat  of  an 
enormous  production  of  iron.  The  ore  from  Lake  Superior  and  the  coal 
from  Pennsylvania  meet  there  half  way.  Other  lake  ports,  like  Cleveland 
and  Toledo,  present  the  same  phenomenon  due  to  the  cheapening  of  rail 
transportation.  The  development  of  the  industry  in  the  Pittsburgh  region 
and  in  Alabama  has  made  this  country  the  greatest  producer  of  iron  and 
steel  in  the  world.  Here  structural  steel  was  employed  in  buildings.  The 
structures  into  which  the  first  girders  went  are  still  standing — Cooper 
Union  and  Harper's  publishing  house  in  New  York  City.  An  enormous 
demand  for  iron  and  steel  is  created  for  agricultural  and  mining  and  man- 
ufacturing machinery  and  also  for  electrical  equipments  and  gas  and  water 
pipe.  Nowhere  are  stoves  and  ranges  made  so  large  and  beautiful  as  here, 
and  nowhere  is  tin  plate  used  so  lavishly.  In  lumber,  leather,  paper  and 
other  lines  the  record  is  similarly  very  great. 

The  United  States  is  at  the  head  of  the  shoe  export  trade.  It  sells  to 
other  nations  some  $12,000,000  worth  of  shoes  annually,  the  principal  cus- 

285 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

tomers  being  Cuba,  the  United  Kingdom,  Canada,  Mexico,  the  West 
Indies  and  Bermuda,  Central  America,  France,  Germany  and  the  Philip- 
pines. Cuba  alone  purchases  35  per  cent,  of  all  the  shoes  exported  from 
this  country,  France  only  about  2  per  cent. 

Growth  of  Great  Cities  upon  Industrial  Foundations 

INDUSTRIES  of  the  United  States  are  most  of  them  strongly  local- 
ized in  certain  regions.  This  tendency  to  develop  a  territorial  division 
of  labor  always  has  been  marked  in  this  country,  in  agriculture  as  well 
as  in  manufactures.  The  causes  which  lead  to  the  location  of  industry  in 
certain  places  are  enumerated  by  the  census:  Nearness  to  materials — 
this  is  illustrated  by  the  oyster  canning  of  Baltimore.  Nearness  to  mar- 
ket— the  agricultural  implement  manufacturers  of  Chicago  find  their  best 
market  in  the  region  which  is  tributary  to  that  city.  Water  power — Fall 
River,  Massachusetts,  with  its  textile  manufacture,  Cohoes,  New  York,  with 
its  knitting  industry,  and  Niagara  Falls,  with  its  electro-chemical  industries, 
have  resulted  from  the  utilization  of  water  power.  Favorable  climate — 
the  Piedmont  section  of  the  South  attracts  cotton  mills,  not  only  because  of 
its  nearness  to  materials  and  its  water  powers,  but  because  of  its  favorable 
climate.  Supply  of  labor — the  garment  trades  are  largely  monopolized  by 
New  York  City,  Philadelphia,  and  other  large  cities  on  the  coast  because 
there  is  a  large  population  of  foreign  birth,  with  modest  standards  of  living, 
which  furnish  adequate  supplies  of  economical  labor. 

The  absorption  of  capital  by  American  industries  is  an  interesting 
phase  of  our  national  growth.  When  the  whaling  industry  declined, 
New  Bedford,  which  had  become  wealthy  by  means  of  it  and  was  ranked  as 
one  of  the  richest  cities  in  the  United  States,  invested  much  of  its  capital 
into  cotton  manufacturing.  The  city  of  Chicago  was  not  able  to  sur- 
pass Cincinnati  as  the  center  of  the  pork-packing  industry  in  the  West 
until  the  local  banks  acquired  enough  money  to  aid  the  packers  in  carrying 
the  enormous  financial  load  of  buying  the  raw  materials,  which  for  that 
business  constitute  about  75  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the  finished  product. 
Sir  William  Johnston  early  brought  glovers  from  England  to  Johnstown, 
New  York,  and  started  the  industry  for  which  that  city  and  Amsterdam 
and  Gloversville  are  now  noted.  Had  the  celebrated  "shoemaker  of  Lynn" 
settled  in  a  neighboring  village,  Lynn  might  not  now  signify  shoes  wher- 
ever the  name  is  heard. 

If  we  examine  a  map,  showing  the  location  of  American  manufactures, 
we  shall  observe  that  they  are  markedly  concentrated  along  the  Atlantic 
seaboard,  from  the  middle  of  Maine  to  the  latitude  of  Baltimore,  and 
covering  a  region  extending  perhaps  one  hundred  miles  back  from  the  coast. 

286 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  CHEYENNE,  WYOMING — This  State  has  an  area  of  97,914  square  miles 

(nearly  equal  to  England,  Scotland,  Wales  and  Belgium  combined) — Its  population 

is  145,965— Admitted  to  the  Union  in  1890. 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  DENVER.  COLORADO — This  State  has  an  area  of  103,948  square  miles 

(nearly  as  much  as  New  Zealand) — Its  population  Is  799,024   (larger  than 

the  Republic  of  Paraguay) — Admitted  to  the  Union  in  1876. 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH — This  State  has  an  area  of  84,990  square  miles 

(larger  than  Uruguay  and  Belgium  combined) — Its  population  is  373,351    (about 

equal  to  Republic  of  Costa  Rica) — Admitted  to  the  Union  in  1896. 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT   PHOENIX.   ARIZONA— This   State   has   an  aroa  of    113,950  square  miles 

(larger  than   continental   Italy) — Its   population   is   204,354    (larger   than 

tne  Island  of  Hawaii)— Admitted  to  the  Union  in  1912. 


West  of  this  an  irregular  belt  of  country,  including  middle  New  York, 
western  Pennsylvania,  and  northeastern  Ohio,  stands  out  prominently. 
Passing  still  farther  west,  we  find  the  manufactures  not  so  evenly  dis- 
tributed, but  rather  concentrated  at  certain  points,  such  as  Cincinnati, 
Louisville,  the  gas  belt  of  Indiana,  Chicago,  Milwaukee,  St.  Louis,  Min- 
neapolis, Kansas  City  and  Omaha.  The  South  shows  a  large  number  of 
small,  rather  isolated  manufacturing  localities.  These  occur  most  fre- 
quently upon  the  Piedmont  Plateau,  from  southern  Virginia  to  northern 
Alabama.  In  the  Rocky  Mountain  States  and  the  region  west  of  them, 
five  centers  stand  out  separated  from  one  another  by  wide  intervals  of 
undeveloped  country.  They  are  the  middle  portion  of  Colorado,  Salt  Lake 
Valley,  the  Butte  region  of  Montana,  the  Puget  Sound  and  Columbia  River 
cities  from  Sacramento  to  Alameda. 

The  national  center  of  manufactures  has  been  fixed  at  a  point  in  the 
middle  of  Ohio,  about  ten  miles  southeast  of  Mansfield.  It  has  moved 
west  only  about  forty  miles  in  ten  years.  The  center  of  population  lies 
west  of  this,  in  Indiana.  California  is  first  in  preserving  vegetables  and 
fruits,  vinous  liquors,  lead  smelting  and  refining.  Connecticut  is  first  in 
ammunition,  brassware,  clocks,  corsets,  cutlery,  needles,  pins,  and  hard- 
ware. New  York  is  first  in  thirty-one  industries,  among  which  are  butter 
and  cheese,  gloves,  factory-made  clothing,  furniture,  chemicals,  hosiery, 
malt  liquors,  lithographing,  printing  and  publishing,  millinery  and  lace 
goods,  paper  and  pulp,  patent  medicines,  soap  and  candles,  sugar  refining, 
cigars  and  cigarettes.  Illinois  is  first  in  the  manufacture  of  agricultural 
implements,  bicycles,  cars,  glucose,  and  distilled  liquors,  and  in  slaughter- 
ing and  meat  packing.  Wisconsin  is  first  in  lumber  and  timber  products. 
Minnesota  leads  in  flouring  and  grist  mills.  Texas  leads  in  cotton 
ginning  and  manufacture  of  products  from  cotton  seed.  Some  manu- 
factures are  limited  to  very  restricted  areas,  a  group  of  States  or  a  single 
State  or  even  a  portion  of  a  State  confining  them.  The  most  highly  con- 
centrated industry  is  the  making  of  collars  and  cuffs,  of  which  99.6  per 
cent,  is  within  New  York  State  and  85.3  per  cent,  is  in  the  single  city  of 
Troy. 

The  tendency  to  centralize  industry  has  given  rise  to  cities  which  are 
chiefly  devoted  to  one  occupation.  The  city  most  wholly  given  up  to  one 
thing  is  South  Omaha;  89.8  per  cent,  of  the  products  of  this  city  are  the 
output  of  the  great  packing  houses  located  there.  A  list  of  cities  of  30,000 
and  over  in  population,  in  each  of  which  40  per  cent,  or  over  of  the  indus- 
trial products  belong  to  one  branch  of  manufacture,  is  an  interesting  study. 
Brockton,  Haverhill  and  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  signify  shoes.  In  the  past 
twenty  years  the  shoe  business  has  been  growing  rapidly  in  the  West, 

289 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

especially  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi.  Lynn,  however,  has  retained 
its  supremacy  in  the  shoe  trade  and  produces  75  per  cent,  of  the  shoes  made 
in  New  England  and  50  per  cent,  of  all  the  shoes  made  in  the  United 
States,  or  about  10,000,000  cases.  Springfield,  Ohio,  means  agricultural 
implements ;  Troy,  New  York,  is  collars  and  cuffs.  Cotton  goods  are  con- 
centrated in  Warwick,  Rhode  Island;  Fall  River,  New  Bedford,  Massa- 
chusetts; Lewiston,  Maine;  Manchester,  New  Hampshire;  Charlotte, 
North  Carolina;  Columbia,  South  Carolina.  Fur  hats  are  in  Bethel  and 
Danbury,  Connecticut;  Orange,  New  Jersey.  Glass  in  Millville,  New 
Jersey;  Tarentum  and  Charleroi,  Pennsylvania.  Knit  goods  in  Cohoes, 
New  York;  iron  in  McKeesport,  Youngstown,  Johnstown,  New  Castle, 
Joliet,  Pittsburg,  Trenton.  Jewelry  in  North  Attleboro  and  Attle- 
boro,  Massachusetts.  Gloves  in  Gloversville  and  Johnstown,  New  York. 
Pottery  in  East  Liverpool,  Ohio.  Silk  in  West  Hoboken  and  Paterson, 
New  Jersey.  Slaughtering  and  meat  packing  in  Chicago,  South  Omaha, 
Kansas  City  and  St.  Joseph. 

About  one-half  of  the  manufactures  of  the  United  States  are  turned 
out  in  our  one  hundred  largest  cities.  These  cities  contain  28  per  cent,  of 
the  population.  About  one-third  of  these  products  come  from  the  209 
cities  having  over  20,000  population.  The  greatest  concentration  of  a 
manufacture  in  cities  is  found  in  the  case  of  men's  and  women's  clothing, 
hats  and  caps,  cars,  umbrellas  and  canes,  lithographing  and  engraving. 
The  smallest  degree  of  concentration  is  found  in  the  case  of  flour  and  grist 
mills,  distilled  liquors,  and  brick  and  tile. 

New  York  City  is  most  cosmopolitan  in  its  manufactures,  exhibiting 
the  greatest  variety  of  them,  and  having  a  number  of  establishments  which 
are  the  only  ones  of  their  kind  in  the  country.  There  were  45,776  manu- 
factories in  New  York  City  (1910),  employing  $15,250,000  capital 
and  600,000  persons  turning  out  goods  annually  to  the  value  of 
$2,371,000,000.  The  most  numerous  class  of  establishments  in  the  city 
was  for  custom  work  and  repairing  of  boots  and  shoes,  of  which  there  were 
3,841.  There  were  more  than  1,000  establishments  each  for  the  manu- 
facture of  cigars,  women's  clothing,  dressmaking,  carpentering,  men's  cloth- 
ing, and  also  for  plumbing,  painting,  and  blacksmithing. 

Visit  to  the  Iron  and  Steel  Industries  in  America 

LET  us  go  on  a  few  short  visits  to  some  of  the  great  American  indus- 
tries.    We  view  the  huge  mining  and  agricultural  industries  in  other 
chapters,  but  here  it  is  instructive  and  entertaining  to  survey  some 
of  the  manufacturing  groups.     This  is  the  day  of  giants — there  is  no  deny- 
ing the  truth.     We  see  them  wherever  we  turn  our  eyes — giants  that  step 

290 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INDUSTRIES 

from  flaming  furnaces  and  stretch  their  enormous  frames  over  valleys  and 
rivers,  or  snort  fire  from  their  nostrils,  or  float  on  the  waves  like  sea  mon- 
sters. And  the  greatest  giant  of  all  is  the  steel  industry.  Here  we  look 
into  blast  furnaces  that  turn  huge  kettles  of  molten  metal  into  far  leaping 
steel  bridges,  towering  steel  skyscrapers,  deep  steel  tunnels  under  the 
earth,  steel  greyhounds  of  the  ocean,  steel  engines  running  swiftly  across 
continents  on  steel  tracks.  The  molten  masses  of  iron  are  daily  trans- 
formed into  that  greatest  of  metal — yes,  greater  than  gold  and  silver — the 
metal  that  is  the  back-bone  of  our  modern  civilization.  First  we  had  the 
Stone  Age ;  then  the  Bronze  Age ;  then  the  Iron  Age — this  is  the  Steel  Age. 
Our  lives  are  to-day  encompassed  by  steel.  We  are  absolutely  dependent 
on  it  for  our  daily  necessities  and  conveniences.  Imagine  what  the  world 
would  be  like  with  steel  taken  out  of  it.  The  amount  of  steel  used  for 
warlike  purposes  is  overwhelming,  but  it  is  nothing  compared  with  that  em- 
ployed in  the  arts  of  peace.  The  railroads  alone  laid  out  through  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  United  States  represent  a  weight  of  70,000,000 
tons,  while  the  engines  in  use  total  nearly  5,000,000  more. 

Watch  for  a  moment  the  transformation  of  iron  into  steel  by  the 
genius  of  man.  The  molten  iron  is  run  onto  a  train  of  ladles,  whose  loco- 
motive draws  it  to  the  open-hearth  department  of  the  steel  works.  There 
the  air  is  blown  through  it  by  what  is  called  the  Bessemer  process,  or  it  is 
poured  into  an  oven  and  subjected  to  a  fierce  heat.  Then  it  is  poured  into 
a  gigantic  ladle,  capable  of  holding  fifteen  to  twenty  tons,  which  is  swung 
by  a  crane  to  a  position  just  above  a  train  of  ingot  molds  placed  in  little 
trucks  on  a  railroad  track.  Through  a  hole  in  the  bottom  of  the  ladle  the 
steel  is  poured  into  each  mold,  filling  it  to  the  top ;  and,  when  it  has  cooled 
sufficiently  to  stand,  the  molds  are  stripped  off,  and  there  are  the  ingots — 
massive  blocks  of  steel,  six  feet  high,  and  a  foot  or  more  thick,  and  still 
red-hot.  Then  the  little  train  moves  on  to  the  soaking  pits,  where  an 
overhead  crane,  with  a  pair  of  jaws  like  huge  ice  tongs,  seizes  each  ingot 
and  lowers  it  into  a  pit,  where  its  temperature  is  equalized,  the  surface 
being  warmed  by  a  gas  flame,  whilst  the  inner  part  cools  down.  It  then 
goes  to  the  roll-tables,  where  it  is  squeezed  into  shape,  according  to  the  use 
for  which  it  is  designed.  It  is  now  sent  forth  to  perform  its  mighty  mission 
in  the  world.  Forthwith  it  takes  myriad  forms  of  usefulness.  It  girdles 
the  earth  with  railroads.  It  lines  the  huge  buildings  of  our  cities.  It 
builds  up  the  machinery  of  the  factory.  It  prints  the  newspaper.  It  fills 
the  surgeon's  case.  It  plows  and  reaps  the  harvest  of  the  world.  It 
moves  the  giant  vessel  over  the  ocean.  It  makes  the  world's  clothing. 
There  is  nothing  of  importance  in  the  affairs  of  men  in  which  the  great 
magician,  Steel,  does  not  have  a  part. 

291 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

This  is  an  American  industry.  A  century  ago,  steel  played  a  hardly 
greater  part  in  our  lives  than  in  those  of  our  primeval  ancestors.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  about  35,000  tons  of  steel  were  made 
annually  in  Great  Britain,  then  the  greatest  producer  in  the  world.  It 
produced  six  and  a  half  million  tons  in  191 1.  But  the  United  States  has 
quadrupled  that  figure,  with  24,000,000  tons  out  of  the  world's  output  of 
58,000,000.  We  lead  the  world,  not  only  in  the  production,  but  in  the 
use  of  steel.  When  Bessemer,  an  Englishman,  suggested  his  new  process 
for  making  steel,  in  1855,  from  cast  iron  without  fuel,  he  was  laughed  to 
scorn.  But  Americans  were  quick  to  see  the  possibilities  of  the  invention, 
and  the  production  of  steel  by  the  new  process  increased  by  leaps  and 
bounds  in  this  country.  How  astonishing  this  progress  has  been  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that,  at  the  opening  of  the  twentieth  century,  the  United  States 
was  producing  as  much  steel  as  the  whole  world  had  produced  in  1892. 
It  would  have  required  the  total  production  of  all  the  gold  mines  of  the 
world  to  pay  for  that  one  year's  production  of  steel. 

Let  us  try  to  get  an  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  the  present  annual 
product  of  steel  in  the  United  States — which  is  five  times  the  total  produc- 
tion of  the  world  twenty  years  ago.  Suppose  that  for  one  year  the 
country  could  spare  from  its  ordinary  use  all  the  steel  produced  and  devote 
it  to  ornamental  purposes.  It  would  make  a  magnificent  colonnade  of 
pillars,  4,150  on  each  side,  2O  feet  in  diameter  and  100  feet  high.  Or,  if 
we  preferred  it,  we  could  build  one  colossal  column,  100  feet  in  diameter, 
and  pile  it  up  higher  than  Mount  Everest,  the  loftiest  peak  in  the  world. 

In  the  old  days  steel  was  used  in  destroying  human  life — that  was 
almost  its  sole  use.  In  these  times,  it  is  employed  for  protecting  and  pre- 
serving human  life.  Even  in  the  case  of  a  great  railroad  accident,  the 
disastrous  effects  are  minimized  by  the  use  of  steel  cars.  And  here  should 
be  mentioned  one  of  the  most  beneficial  purposes  to  which  steel  has  been 
applied — the  construction  of  great  buildings.  It  has  proved  its  worth  in 
the  presence  of  fire  and  earthquake.  In  the  great  Baltimore  fire,  the  frame- 
work of  the  steel  buildings  stood  unscathed,  even  when  exposed  to  the  full 
severity  of  the  conflagration.  An  even  more  convincing  illustration  was 
provided  in  the  San  Francisco  fire,  when  the  tall,  steel-ribbed  buildings 
stood  practically  intact,  after  enduring  shocks  which  threw  everything 
around  them  to  the  ground.  And  tests  made  of  steel  corrosion  show  that 
the  life  of  such  buildings  is  practically  assured  for  generations.  The 
strength  of  steel  is  phenomenal.  The  number  of  strands  in  a  steel  rope  an 
inch  in  circumference  varies  from  40  to  400,  and  a  strand  as  large  as  a 
knitting-needle  will  require  a  ton  weight  to  tear  it  apart! 

As  America  has  become  the  empire  of  steel,  so  is  Pittsburgh  its  capital. 

292 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  SACRAMENTO,  CALIFORNIA — This  State  has  an  area  of  158,297  square 

miles   (larger  than  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  Wales,  and  Servia  combined) 

— Population  2,377,549  (larger  than  Norway) — Admitted  in  1850. 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  CARSON  CITY,  NEVADA — This  State  has  an  area  of  110,690  square  miles 

(nearly  equal  to  the  Philippine  Islands) — Its  population  is  81,875    (about  equal  to 

Bermuda  and  Bahama  Island  combined) — Admitted  in  1804. 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  OLYMPIA.  WASIIl.MiTOX— This  State  has  an  area  of  00,127  square  miles 

(larger  than  kingdom  of  Roumania) — Its  population   is   1,141,000    (larger  than 

Republic  of  Uruguay) — Admitted   to   Union   in    18SO. 


STATE  CAPITOL  AT  SALEM,  OREGON— This  State  has  an  area  of  ittl.OOO  square  miles   (nearly 

equal  to  Republic  of  Paraguay) — Its  population  is  6711,705   (larger  than  the  Republic 

of  Nicaragua) — Admitted  to  the  Union  in  1859, 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INDUSTRIES 

Around  it,  stretching  in  every  direction  in  a  huge  circle  is  a  network  of 
steel-making  towns.  Steel  has  multiplied  the  population  of  Pittsburgh  by 
ten  during  the  past  fifty  years  and  has  doubled  it  during  the  past  twenty; 
it  now  stands  eighth  among  American  cities.  It  has  made  more  million- 
aires, and  more  quickly,  than  any  other  industry.  So  long  as  America  is  at 
the  head  of  the  steel  industry,  it  will  lead  the  world.  "The  nation  that 
makes  the  cheapest  steel,"  said  Andrew  Carnegie,  "has  the  other  nations  at 
its  feet.  Steel  has  come  to  be  the  basis  of  all  material  progress,  and  our 
civilization  is  built,  as  it  were,  upon  a  framework  of  steel." 

Flour  Milling  Industries  in  the  United  States 

A  GLIMPSE  at  the  flour  milling  industry  in  the  United  States 
shows  an  interesting  phase  of  our  national  everyday  life.  The 
little  grain  of  wheat  feeds  the  world.  Our  enormous  mills  eat 
up  millions  of  bushels  of  wheat  like  hungry  giants.  England,  Holland, 
Switzerland,  Belgium,  Norway,  and  Sweden  must  all  look  to  foreign  coun- 
tries for  their  wheat  and  flour.  We  bake  bread  enough  every  year  to  give 
thirty  loaves  to  each  of  the  earth's  inhabitants.  We  could  build  eight 
"bread  lines,"  each  stretching  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco.  The 
little  sheaf  of  wheat  passes  through  in  its  journey  from  the  harvest  fields 
of  Kansas,  or  Illinois,  or  Washington,  or  Nebraska  to  the  twenty-odd 
millions  of  American  breakfast  tables.  The  first  merchant  mill  was 
erected  in  Minneapolis  in  1854.  The  first  great  steel  mill  was  erected  in 
1878,  and  in  twelve  years  this  infant  city  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi became  the  world's  greatest  "flour  city."  Improved  machinery 
has  made  flour  milling  one  of  the  greatest  of  American  industries. 

If  you  ever  go  to  the  "flour  cities,"  be  sure  to  visit  the  wonderful  grain 
elevators.  They  are  high,  windowless  buildings,  with  a  superstructure 
resembling  a  cupola,  in  which  is  installed  the  machinery.  The  elevators  of 
the  Northwest,  such  as  those  of  Minneapolis,  for  example,  are  capable  of 
storing  from  500,000  to  4,000,000  bushels  of  wheat,  and  can  handle  and 
transfer  as  much  as  30,000  bushels  in  an  hour.  There  were  in  the  United 
States,  at  the  time  of  the  last  census,  11,691  establishments  producing 
flour.  They  paid  $38,981,000  in  salaries  and  wages  that  year,  and  gave 
work  to  51,484  persons.  There  were  $349,182,000  invested  in  these  es- 
tablishments, and  the  value  of  the  products  was  $883,584,000.  More 
than  two  hundred  million  barrels  of  wheat  flour  were  produced. 

The  sugar  industry  is  one  of  the  great  factors  in  American  progress 
and  is  an  economic  and  political  problem.  We  Americans  are  now 
consuming  nearly  4,000,000  tons  of  sugar  a  year.  The  world's  annual 
output  is  12,000,000  tons.  More  than  7,000,000  tons  are  obtained  from 

295 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

beets.  Few  persons  realize  how  the  industry  has  gone  through  an  evolu- 
tion which  has  made  sugar  the  commodity  which  it  is  to-day.  This  evolu- 
tion has  been  brought  about  by  the  application  of  modern  American  ideas  to 
the  machinery  and  chemistry  involved  in  extracting  sugar  from  the  plants 
and  in  the  methods  of  refining  the  raw  product. 

Sugar  Industry  and  the  Development  of  the  South 

THE  first  sugar  mill  to  be  established  in  this  country  was  that  of 
Etienne  De  Bore.     The  cane  had  been  introduced  in  Louisiana, 
in  1751,  by  the  Jesuits,  and  thrived  there  fairly  well.     De  Bore's 
mill  was  erected  not  long  afterward  on  what  is  now  the  site  of  the  city  of 
New  Orleans.     To-day  the  extraction  and  refining  of  sugar,  as  well  as  the 
growing  of  the  cane,  constitute  one  of  the  most  important  industries  of  that 
part  of  the  South.     Steam  mills  came  into  use  in  the  first  half  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century,  a  Mr.  Coiron  being  the  first  man  to  adopt  the  idea. 
From  that  time  on,  the  mills  have  grown  in  size  and  effectiveness,  so  that 
by  1900  there  was  exhibited  at  the  Paris  Exposition  a  sugar  mill  that  was 
capable  of  crushing  three  hundred  tons  of  sugar-cane  a  day;  but  the 
latest  mills  can  crush  from  nine  to  twelve  hundred  tons  in  twenty-four 
hours.     American  inventiveness  has,  of  course,  helped  to  make  this  possible. 
Jeremiah  Howard  patented  a  device  for  the  regulation  of  the  feeding  of 
the  stalks  into  the  first  roller  in   1858.     This  patent  operates  so  as  to 
have  both  sides  of  the  roller  working  evenly  and  also  prevents  foreign 
substances,  such  as  stray  pieces  of  wood  or  iron,  from  entering.     The  primi- 
tive open  receptacles  have  given  way  to  the  modern  multiple-effect  evap- 
orator, an  invention  of  Morberto  Relleux,  who  first  put  it  into  use  at  New 
Orleans  in  1840.     He  discovered  the  important  fact  that,  the  shorter  time 
the  juice  is  exposed  to  heat,  the  less  loss  there  is  of  sugar.     The  time  re- 
quired has  been  cut  down  by  carrying  out  this  evaporation  in  vacuum  pans, 
an  idea  first  put  into  practice  by  E.  C.  Howard.     Before  sugar  is  fit  to  be 
placed  on  our  tables,  it  must  be  refined,  and  the  refining  is  often  done  miles 
away  from  the  sugar  mills.     There  are  great  suger  refining  factories  in  and 
about  New  York  City,  and  to  these  hundreds  of  thousands  of  tons  of  raw 
sugar  are  brought  yearly  from  foreign  mills  as  well  as  those  in  the  southern 
part  of  our  own  country.     It  was  an  American  who  finally  produced  sugar 
from  beets,  and  made  it  practical  for  commercial  purposes.     His  name  was 
David  Lee  Child.     He  gave  it  his  attention  in    1840.     The  brothers 
Genert  set  up  a  beet-sugar  mill  in  Chatsworth,  Illinois,  in  1863.     There 
are  now  more  than  seventy  beet-sugar  mills  in  this  country. 

296 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INDUSTRIES 

Leather  Industry  Grows  to  Gigantic  Proportions 

THE  leather  industry  is  a  witness  to  American  ingenuity.  There  are 
over  200,000  engaged  in  all  the  branches  of  the  industry  in  the 
United  States.  We  have  5,000  establishments  in  this  country  and 
they  earn  more  than  $100,000,000  each  year.  We  import  from  all  coun- 
tries of  the  world — the  United  States  cannot  begin  to  meet  our  demand — 
more  than  $120,000,000  worth  of  hides  and  skins,  stripped  from  the 
backs  of  cattle,  horses,  buffalo,  sheep,  goats,  kangaroos,  pigs,  and  even  the 
fish  of  the  sea,  and  many  other  kinds  of  animals. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  Pilgrims,  not  intending  to  walk  barefoot  in 
the  New  World,  brought  over  a  cordwainer  for  the  purpose.  The  first 
tannery  mentioned  in  America  is  the  Virginian  establishment  which  began 
operations  in  the  same  year  that  Boston  was  founded,  1630.  It  was  only 
a  matter  of  a  year  or  so  before  Francis  Ingalls  had  one  established  in  the 
Massachusetts  Colony,  in  Swampscott.  In  those  days,  the  trade  was  con- 
sidered of  such  vital  importance  that  the  authorities  issued  strict  laws  that, 
whenever  an  animal  was  killed,  its  hide  must  be  saved  for  the  neighborhood 
leather  maker,  and  also  laws  that  prohibited,  under  heavy  penalty,  hides 
being  exported.  Under  this  protection  the  industry  flourished,  especially 
that  of  making  shoes. 

Many  great  Americans  have  been  shoemakers.  One  of  them  was 
Roger  Sherman,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  a  maker 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  He  worked  at  the  bench  for 
twenty-two  years.  From  the  old-time  shoemaker's  bench  to  the  modern 
shoe  factory  there  intervenes  but  little  more  than  a  century  of  practice. 
The  battle  of  New  Orleans  was  but  a  year  old  when  J.  W.  Hopkinton 
invented  the  shoe-pegging  machine,  one  of  the  first  steps  toward  the  modern 
era  of  shoe-machinery.  If  you  have  never  been  in  one  of  the  New  England 
shoe  shops,  as  they  are  to-day,  you  cannot  appreciate  the  wonderful  in- 
genuity of  the  machines.  They  perform  all  the  work,  from  cutting  out  the 
leather  to  putting  on  the  finishing  polish.  There  are  machines  that  sew 
the  uppers  together,  make  and  attach  the  toe-caps,  fasten  in  accurately  the 
eyelets,  fit  the  uppers  over  the  lasts  so  that  they  fit  the  foot  like  a  glove, 
cut  grooves,  and  trim,  nail,  and  stitch  inner  and  outer  soles  together  and 
then  to  the  uppers,  level  the  soles  and  heels,  which  are  nailed  on  by 
machinery,  to  a  uniform  thickness  and  then  sandpaper  them,  and  finally 
bevel,  blacken,  and  burnish  the  heels  and  soles  with  hot  irons.  The  fin- 
ished product  is  the  pride  of  American  industry  and  is  pronounced  by  the 
world  as  the  finest  shoe  made.  The  American  shoemakers  are  turning  out 

297 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

their  product  at  the  rate  of  250,000,000  shoes  every  year,  enough  to  give 
every  individual  in  our  nation  two  and  a  half  pairs. 

American  Woolen  Industries  Clothe  the  Nation 

THE  United  States  is  the  greatest  wool  consuming  nation  in  the 
world.  To  supply  this  demand,  or  at  least  a  great  part  of  it,  we 
have  in  this  country  more  than  50,000,000  sheep,  a  greater  number 
than  we  have  of  horses,  mules,  and  dairy  cows.  In  the  one  State  of  Mon- 
tana alone  there  are  more  sheep  than  there  are  mules  in  the  whole  coun- 
try. We  clip  from  all  our  sheep  more  than  300,000,000  pounds  of  fine 
wool,  enough  to  supply  every  individual  American  with  three  pounds  each. 
Over  1,200  American  woolen  mills  use  this  vast  fleecy  mass,  and  call  upon 
the  rest  of  the  world  for  sufficient  wool  to  meet  the  insatiable  demand. 
Columbus  when  he  came  to  America  in  1493,  included  in  his  cargo  several 
Spanish  sheep,  which  became  progenitors  of  large  flocks  in  New  Mexico, 
Utah,  and  Texas.  Sheep  were  introduced  from  England  into  Virginia  in 
1609;  into  Massachusetts  from  England  in  1624;  and  into  New  York  from 
Holland  in  1625.  Picture  a  well  sheltered  valley,  deep  with  luscious 
grass.  Keen-eyed  men,  two  to  a  flock,  ceaselessly  watch  their  charges, 
numbering,  in  the  aggregate,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  sheep,  each  valued 
at  from  $3  to  $12  apiece.  Scores  of  intelligent  sheep  dogs  sit  on  their 
haunches,  keenly  watching  every  move  of  the  sheep.  It  is  early  spring  in 
one  of  our  Southwestern  States,  and  the  drovers  are  preparing  to  bring 
their  flocks  to  the  clipping  sheds.  They  are  long  rambling  buildings, 
whose  interiors  resemble  a  modern  factory  in  the  point  of  machinery. 
Long  belts  hang  to  the  shaftings  and  lead  down  to  the  clipping  machines, 
or  shears.  Twenty  shearers,  men  who  are  experts  at  their  trades  and 
follow  the  clipping  seasons,  as  the  wheat  harvesters  do,  take  position  beside 
the  machines.  When  all  is  ready,  each  man  reaches  into  the  shute  leading 
from  the  outside  and  seizes  a  sheep  and  with  a  quick  swing  has  it  in  sitting 
posture  between  his  knees.  The  machinery  whirrs,  and  the  flashing  shears 
slip  over  the  sheep's  back,  clipping  off  his  woolen  coat  in  less  than  two 
minutes,  a  coat  weighing  on  the  average  seven  pounds  of  good  wool,  which, 
after  scouring,  will  sell  at  the  rate  of  about  55  cents  a  pound. 

Ninety-five  out  of  every  hundred  Americans  who  wear  woolen  clothing 
are  clad  in  fabrics  from  American  mills.  To  describe  the  processes  by 
which  the  various  cloths  are  made  would  fill  a  volume,  as  almost  every 
kind  of  cloth  is  manufactured  differently.  The  worsted  machines  are 
ingenious.  One,  the  gilling  machine,  levels  the  fibers  and  makes  them  lie 
parallel,  one  pair  of  rollers  pulling  the  yarn  over  heavy  steel  bars,  fallers, 
covered  with  projecting  pins,  the  pins  becoming  finer  and  more  numerous 

298 


GOVERNOR'S   PALACE   AT    SAX   JUAN,   PORTO   RICO— United   States   took   possession  of   t'.iis 

island  in  18!)S — Its  population  is  1, 151.570 — Its  area  is  3.604  square  miles — This  photograph 

is   loaned    to   this   volume   by   Ex-Governor   George    H.    Colton   of  -Porto    Rico. 


GOVERNMENT   BUILDING   AT   HOXOU'LU,    HAWAIIAN   I  SLA  NI»S— These  islands   became  ter- 
ritory of  th(>  United  States  in   ]!)()() — Their  area  is  (>,44!)  square  miles  and  their  popula- 
tion   is   1100,003 — Hawaii   is   one   of   the    large   sugar   producing   countries. 


FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS  DELIVERED  TC  THE  AMERICAN    PEOPLE— This    famous    engraving    by 
shows  Washington  as  he  stood  before  both  Houses   of  Congress  on  April  30,  1789,  and  delivered  ins 
inaugural  address — It  was  characterized  by  his  usual  modesty,  moderation  and  good  sense. 


or   HKMoi  UACV   SET  FORTH   I?Y   \Y.\  SI  II  NGTOX— Washington,    at    his    Inauguration,    sounded    the 
key-note  <>f  Republican  <;<>vcrnment :    "The  foundation  of  our  national  policy,"  he  said,  "will  be  laid 
in  the  pure  and  immutable  principles  of  private  morality,  and  free  government." 


COVKUNMENT    WILIUNd    AT    MANILA,    PHILIPPINE    ISLANDS      The    1'nited    States    estab- 
lished civil  government  in   tliosc  islands  in   l'.)02 — The  ]>o])ulation  is  X.4(JO.O."i:i — Its  area 
is   ll.~>. <)•_:<;  square  miles    (larger  than   the  Kingdom  of  Italy). 


GOVERNMENT   lU'ILIUNd   IN  JINKAU.  ALASKA— This  territory  was  purchased  by  the   Tnited 

States   in   1S<>K — Its   area  is   r>!)O.SS4   sqiiiire   miles    (larger  than   the   (Jerman    Kmpiro   in 

Europe,    England,    Scotland,    Ireland,   and   France   combined). 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INDUSTRIES 

as  the  fiber  travels  through  the  machine.  From  here  it  goes  to  a  machine 
to  be  spun  into  very  hard,  twisted  thread.  Then  it  is  ready  for  weaving. 
John  Kay  gave  to  the  world,  in  1733,  his  flying  shuttle,  and,  in  1760,  the 
drop-box,  an  attachment  by  which  different  colored  threads  could  be  woven 
into  the  fabric.  In  1784,  the  Reverend  Edmund  Cartwright  invented  the 
power  loom  and  revolutionized  the  industry.  Next  Joseph  Jacquard,  of 
France,  invented,  in  1801,  a  loom  for  weaving  figured  patterns.  Leonardo 
da  Vinci,  the  painter  of  "Mona  Lisa,"  invented  the  machine  which  is  used 
to-day  to  trim  the  pile  of  cloth. 

Gigantic  Packing  Industries  in  the  West 

ONE  of  the  greatest  American  industries  is  ranching  and  the  slaughter 
of  cattle.     On  our  great  ranches  to-day,  awaiting  the  whim  of 
our  hunger,  are  over  60,000,000  head  of  cattle,  58,000,000  swine, 
and  52,000,000  sheep  and  lambs — quite  a  delicate  little  luncheon.    .Their 
value  exceeds  $2,000,000,000;  so  it  is  rather  an  extravagant  luncheon  after 
all.     To  drive  this  "living  dinner"  into  our  dining-rooms  requires  more 
than  1,700  slaughter  houses  and  meat  packing  establishments,  employing 
about  110,000  men,  women,  and  children. 

France  was  the  first  country  to  have  these  modern  "meat  handling" 
plants.  During  the  reign  of  Napoleon  I,  a  commission  was  called  together 
to  consider  the  question  of  "slaughtering  animals  for  food,"  with  the  result 
that,  in  1818,  six  abattoirs  were  built  and  put  into  operation  in  Paris; 
these  six  are  still  in  use.  It  was  not  until  1860  that  the  need  for  abattoirs 
was  felt  in  America.  The  West  had  developed  into  the  greatest  meat 
providing  region  in  the  whole  world,  and  foreign  countries  were  importing 
our  beef.  As  a  central  market  was  needed,  the  abattoirs  were  located  in 
the  stockyards  in  Chicago,  and  soon  became  the  most  important,  the  largest, 
and  the  best  equipped  in  the  world.  To-day  millions  of  heads  of  cattle, 
hogs,  and  sheep  are  sent  to  Chicago  alone.  They  are  forwarded  in  airy 
cars,  they  are  watered  and  fed  during  transportation,  and  only  the  healthier 
animals  are  selected  for  slaughter.  Chicago  stockyards  spread  over  more 
than  500  acres  of  ground.  Huge  abattoirs  have  been  erected  in  Kansas 
City,  Omaha,  and  many  other  cities,  until  to-day  it  is  one  of  the  great 
American  industries.  Wonderful  machinery  transforms  these  animals  al- 
most instantly  into  beef,  pork,  and  mutton,  which  are  hurried  on  refriger- 
ator cars  to  the  homes  of  America  across  the  seas  to  the  peoples  of  this 
earth. 

The  higher  development  of  abattoirs  has  rested  entirely  with  America. 
Countless  patented  inventions  have  helped  to  make  them  what  they  are, 
and  the  brains  of  many  men  have  worked  out  the  problems,  The  practice 

303 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

of  canning  meat  began  about  twenty  years  ago  and  has  come  to  be  one  of 
the  most  important  departments  of  the  meat  producing  industry.  These 
large  abattoirs  have  enabled  America  to  outstrip  all  rivals  in  the  amount  of 
meat  furnished  to  the  world.  The  United  States  produced  3,059,000  tons 
of  beef  in  a  single  year.  The  nearest  rival,  Russia,  produced  1,546,000 
tons  in  that  year;  while  the  third  highest,  Argentina,  produced  985,000 
tons  in  the  same  period.  American  beef  is  used  all  over  the  world,  being 
exported  in  cold  storage  or  in  tin  cans.  Only  American  ingenuity  and 
inventiveness  have  made  this  possible. 

Growth  of  the  Huge  Automobile  Industry 

TO  pass  through  even  the  leading  manufacturing  industries  in  this 
country  would  require  a  lifetime.  It  is  possible  here  only  to  sug- 
gest the  most  conspicuous.  The  growth  of  the  automobile  indus- 
try has  been  one  of  our  Twentieth-Century  marvels.  Six  million  dollars 
were  invested  in  the  business  about  the  beginning  of  the  century.  Twelve 
years  later,  it  had  multiplied  to  $450,000,000.  There  were  2,500  persons 
actually  employed  in  about  thirty  establishments  in  1899;  there  were  more 
than  85,000  employed  in  more  than  400  establishments  in  1912.  With  all 
the  persons  who  are  affiliated  with  the  industry,  including  the  capacities  of 
salesmen  and  demonstrators,  there  is  an  army  numbering  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  a  quarter  of  a  million.  There  were  3,500  cars  in  our  country 
about  twelve  years  ago;  to-day  there  are  more  than  a  million  or  about 
twenty  times  as  many  as  there  are  passenger  coaches  on  our  American  rail- 
ways. These  figures  are  constantly  changing,  at  the  rate  of  300,000  or 
more  new  cars  every  year,  four-fifths  of  which,  it  is  said,  are  sold  to  Amer- 
icans, the  rest  being  sold  in  foreign  countries. 

What  has  the  automobile  actually  done  for  Americans'?  It  has 
worked  a  new  revolution,  greater  in  its  results  than  war.  It  has  brought 
health,  wealth,  and  pleasure;  it  has  made  the  tourist  familiar  with  the 
out-of-way  places  of  the  world,  as  no  railroad  could  possibly  do.  It  has 
inaugurated  a  new  spirit  of  travel  and  thereby  greatly  increased  knowl- 
edge. It  has  built  up  the  small  towns ;  it  has  taken  people  out  of  cities  to 
the  fresh  air  of  the  country,  instead  of  crowding  them  into  the  heart  of  the 
congested  city.  It  has  greatly  increased  property  values.  It  is  a  factor 
in  science;  the  doctor  finds  it  invaluable  when  hurrying  to  save  a  life; 
the  hospital  sends  out  its  auto-ambulances.  The  fireman  uses  it  to  carry 
himself  and  his  apparatus  to  the  fire.  The  parcels  postman  uses  it  to 
carry  his  heavy  bundles.  The  shopper  utilizes  it  in  her  trips  to  the  stores. 
The  visitor  to  ..a  city  finds  taxicabs  awaiting  him  at  the  station  to  con- 
vey him  through  the  crowded  streets  to  a  hotel.  There  are  auto-police 

304 


GREAT  AMERICAN  INDUSTRIES 

wagons  and  auto-commercial  trucks.  Auto-freighting  cars  carry  the 
precious  metals  from  Costa  Rica's  mountain-tops  to  her  seaports.  Cali- 
fornia auto-trucks  carry  borax  out  from  Death  Valley.  There  are  auto- 
street-sweepers,  auto-hand  cars,  and  even  auto-chapels,  from  which  mission- 
aries preach  the  Gospel  to  those  who  cannot  attend  church. 

The  automobile  is  thirty  times  more  efficient  than  the  old  mule  team. 
It  can  haul  a  load  of  100  tons  to  a  distance  of  100  miles  in  twenty  hours. 
Furthermore,  it  is  much  cheaper  than  horses.  The  automobile  is  doing 
our  farming  to-day.  Its  first  test  was  in  plowing;  it  showed  that  horses 
cost  $3.68  an  acre,  steam  power  $4.08,  and  gasoline  motor  power  $1.97 
each  acre.  An  auto  plow  can  do  as  much  work  in  one  day  as  a  two-horse 
team  can  in  six.  The  marvelous  little  auto-tractors  pull  the  plow,  the 
harrow,  the  planting  and  the  mowing  machines.  The  automobile  has 
proven  the  farmer's  friend.  One-fourth  of  the  automobiles  sold  to-day  go 
to  farms  west  of  the  Mississippi.  In  Egypt  it  turns  up  the  desert  in  the 
very  shadow  of  the  Pyramids. 

But  one  of  the  greatest  of  boons  that  the  automobile  has  renderd  to 
civilization  is  the  demand  for  good  roads.  During  its  comparatively  short 
career,  it  has  changed  the  whole  highway  systems.  Not  millions,  but  bil- 
lions of  dollars  are  being  expended  in  building  great  highways  that  weave 
their  way  through  the  continent  like  a  huge  spider's  web.  The  automobile 
has  come  to  stay.  It  will  become  more  and  more  general  in  its  use  until 
the  peoples  of  the  earth  are  darting  from  place  to  place  in  these  veritable 
houses  on  wheels.  Even  when  the  airship  lures  us  into  the  clouds,  the 
automobile  will  remain  the  master  of  the  land. 

We  might  continue  this  chapter  throughout  many  volumes,  but  this 
survey  suffices  to  impress  upon  the  reader  the  democracy  of  American 
industry.  America's  vast  industries  are  its  great  handicraft  universities — 
its  real  senates  of  national  expression.  Here  the  mind  goes  out  from  the 
hand  into  the  machine  and  creates  an  Industrial  Nation  and  an  Industrial 
Age.  The  machine  is  endowed  with  all  the  powers  of  the  human  senses 
— it  is  a  magical  creation.  The  great  American  industries  are  nothing  less 
than  gigantic  forums  of  human  progress.  The  original  statesmen  are  the 
inventors,  but  the  millions  of  operatives  are  in  turn  training  to  be  the 
diplomatists  of  democracy.  Thus,  the  great  American  factory,  with  its 
magical  machinery,  has  washed  from  the  face  of  the  world's  industry  the 
last  vestige  of  human  slavery.  It  has  crowned  the  labor  of  the  world  with 
the  diadem  of  nobility — and  the  noblest  of  human  attributes  is  industry. 


305 


PART  IV  CHAPTER  VIII 

GREAT  AMERICAN  RAILROADS 
AND  COMMERCE 

"Nature  is  the  master  of  talent;  genius  is  the  master  of  nature." 

— Holland. 


1 


genius  of  modem  civilization  is — transportation.  It  is  the 
backbone  of  the  anatomy  of  civilization.  For  civilization  is  not 
an  abstract  thing;  it  is  a  physical  structure — a  huge  body  formed 
over  a  gigantic  frame  and  performing  its  well-defined  functions 
through  it  own  vital  organs.  The  newspaper  is  the  heart,  the  organ  of  the 
circulatory  processes;  the  telegraph  and  telephone  is  the  nervous  system; 
the  railroad  is  the  skeleton  of  the  whole  body;  the  street  railways  are  the 
muscles;  and  the  arteries  are  the  channels  of  commerce. 

If  one  was  to  ask  what  single  factor  had  done  the  most  for  Amer- 
ican progress — what  material  force  had  contributed  the  largest  to  our  de- 
velopment— it  is  probable  that  the  economists  would  reply:  "The  rail- 
road." This  is  the  stupendous  power  that  made  possible  the  Industrial 
Age.  It  is  the  miracle  that  allowed  the  American  nation  to  stretch  its 
limbs  across  a  continent.  Without  it,  neither  agriculture,  nor  manufac- 
turing, nor  mining  could  exist  to-day  on  their  gigantic  scale.  Practically 
every  large  city  in  America  owes  its  existence  to  the  genius  of  transporta- 
tion. It  is  the  burden  bearer  of  all  the  products  of  the  people  and  all  the 
materials  with  which  they  work  and  live. 

Macaulay  must  have  prophetically  referred  to  the  railroad  when  he 
said:  "Of  all  inventions,  the  alphabet  and  printing-press  excepted,  those 
inventions  which  abridge  distances  have  done  most  for  the  civilization  of 
the  species."  The  railroad  not  only  "abridges  distances"  but  it  annihilates 
both  distance  and  time. 

The  railroad  has  been  the  empire  builder — it  is  the  genii  behind  the 
development  of  the  Great  West.  Through  its  power  the  forests  become 
great  cities;  the  waste  lands  pour  out  abundant  riches,  the  desolate  plains 
become  peopled  by  the  multitudes.  Out  of  the  vast  Western  wilderness, 
scorned  by  the  greatest  statesman  of  the  day,  there  has  been  wrought  one 
of  the  greatest  modern  miracles.  Darkest  Africa  held  not  more  forbidding 
dominion  than  lay  beyond  the  banks  of  the  Missouri  River  in  these  United 
States  a  generation  ago.  It  took  bold  spirits  to  dare  to  brave  the  storms 

306 


LARGEST  RAILROAD  STATION  IN   TOE  WORLD — The  Grand  Central  Terminal  in  New  York 

covers    over   70    acres,    and    cost    $180,000,000 — It   can    hold    about    30.000    people — It   is 

estimated  that  25,000,000  persons  pass  through  this  gateway  to  New  York  each  year. 


<;KI:AT  AMKKH'AX  RAILROAD  STATIONS — This  is  the  Pennsylvania  station 
City —  It  covers  twenty-eight  acres,  more  land  than  any  other  building  in 
world— this  structure  with  site  cost  $70,000,000. 


York 


GREAT  AMERICAN  RAILROADS 

of  ridicule  when  it  was  first  suggested  that  the  rivers  and  mountains 
be  spanned  by  steel  rails.  In  the  year  1845,  a  year  before  the  boundary 
between  the  United  States  and  British  Columbia  was  settled,  a  man  named 
Asa  Whitney  petitioned  Congress  in  behalf  of  a  steam  road,  closing  his 
address  with  the  prophetic  words :  "You  will  see  that  it  will  change  the 
whole  world." 

This  challenge  aroused  the  ridicule  of  the  statesmen.  Senator  Dick- 
erson,  from  New  Jersey,  had  in  a  previous  session  caused  the  tabling  of 
a  bill  which  favored  making  Oregon  a  State.  "It  is  absurd,"  he  said. 
"Why,  a  member  of  Congress  traveling  from  his  home  in  Oregon  to  Wash- 
ington and  return,  would  cover  a  distance  of  9,200  miles,  at  the  rate  of 
thirty  miles  per  day.  Allowing  him  forty-four  days  for  Sundays,  three 
hundred  and  fifty  days  would  be  consumed,  and  the  member  would 
have  fourteen  days  in  Washington  before  he  started  home.  It  would  be 
quicker  to  come  around  Cape  Horn  or  by  Behring  Straits,  Baffin  Bay,  and 
Davis  Strait  to  the  Atlantic,  and  so  to  Washington.  True,  the  passage 
is  not  yet  discovered,  except  upon  our  maps,  but  it  will  be  as  soon  as  Oregon 
is  made  a  State." 

No  one  seemed  to  believe  in  the  possibilities  of  the  great  Western 
dominion  of  the  United  States.  Even  those  men  who  had  penetrated  the 
heart  of  the  wilderness  had  no  encouraging  words  for  it.  We  find  the 
doughty  discoverer,  Pike,  for  whom  Pike's  Peak  was  later  named  officially, 
advising  the  Government  that  the  region  was  "incapable  of  cultivation," 
and  that  perforce  Americans  must  confine  themselves  to  the  banks  of  the 
Missouri  and  Mississippi.  The  Great  West  by  consensus  of  opinion 
seemed  doomed  to  exile  from  civilization. 

But  in  all  ages  there  are  a  few  men  with  the  courage  of  their  con- 
victions. They  launched  an  expedition  into  the  unknown  region  to  de- 
termine suitable  routes  for  a  "transcontinental  railroad."  This  private 
exploration  began  in  1853  under  the  auspices  of  Jefferson  Davis,  then 
the  Secretary  of  War.  Ten  years  later,  Lincoln  dispatched  General  Gren- 
ville  M.  Dodge  to  take  definite  surveys  for  the  Pacific  Railroad.  There 
were  then  only  twenty-six  and  one-half  miles  of  railroad  west  of  the 
Missouri  River.  The  Government  was  paying  at  the  rate  of  $40  per  ton 
for  every  one  hundred  miles  to  have  supplies  carted  by  wagon  train  to 
army  posts,  and  there  were  scarcely  any  settlements,  excepting  those  de- 
voted to  trapping  or  mining. 

About  the  time  when  the  bloody  battle  of  Chickamauga  and  Chat- 
tanooga were  taking  place  in  the  East,  two  bodies  of  workmen,  one  in  San 
Francisco  and  the  other  at  Omaha  on  the  Missouri  River,  broke  earth  and 
began  the  great  task  of  laying  the  first  transcontinental  railroad  through 

309 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

the  wilderness.  The  public  was  skeptical  of  success.  The  financiers 
of  the  work  were  called  foolhardy,  if  not  worse.  Even  the  workmen  on 
the  western  end  of  the  road  had  so  little  faith  in  the  project  that  they  de- 
manded their  day's  pay  before  they  would  work.  These  discouragements 
were  increased  by  the  awful  truth  that  every  man  employed  upon  the  work 
was  in  danger  of  his  life,  day  and  night.  The  Indians  did  not  take  kindly 
to  the  idea  and  did  their  best  to  kill  off  the  workmen  and  surveyors.  A 
constant  guard  of  soldiers  was  required.  The  region  for  the  most  part 
was  destitute  of  timber  or  fuel,  and  these  had  to  be  freighted  by  steamboat 
and  wagon  train.  It  was  a  prodigious  undertaking,  putting  American 
courage  to  the  test,  as  it  never  had  been  before. 

Less  than  six  years  after  the  epochal  work  had  begun  the  miracle 
had  been  accomplished — the  Great  American  Desert  had  been  spanned. 
The  East  was  bound  to  the  West,  in  a  union  which  was  to  yield  vast 
wealth  and  power  to  both.  The  scoffers  ceased  to  scoff,  and  the  whole 
nation  arose  in  jubilee.  Some  of  the  larger  cities  devoted  the  historic  day 
— May  10,  1869 — to  a  holiday  of  rejoicing.  Out  on  Promontory  Moun- 
tain there  existed  but  a  single  gap  in  the  line — a  gap  of  one  hundred  feet. 
Sturdy  bodies  of  workmen  stood  ready  to  lay  the  last  rails.  The  builders 
of  the  roads,  whose  indomitable  courage  had  made  it  possible,  gathered 
to  witness  the  historic  occasion.  Telegraph  wires  were  connected  so  that 
the  news  of  the  blows  of  the  sledges  could  be  flashed  to  all  parts  of  the 
United  States  simultaneously.  Three  spikes  of  precious  metal  were  se- 
lected close  to  the  connecting  link;  one  was  of  silver,  gold,  and  iron  from 
Arizona;  another  of  silver  from  Nevada;  and  the  third  of  gold  from  Cali- 
fornia. Beside  the  track  stood  President  Stanford,  president  of  the  rail- 
road and  governor  of  California.  In  his  hands  he  held  a  silver  sledge, 
ready  to  deliver  the  first  stroke.  The  second  blow  was  struck  by  Vice- 
President  Durant;  succeeding  blows  were  struck  by  distinguished  guests, 
until  finally  the  spikes  were  driven  home  by  the  chief  engineers  of  the  two 
roads.  Two  railroad  engines,  which  had  been  waiting  for  the  welding  of 
the  tracks,  advanced,  and  the  engineers  joined  hands  with  each  other  as 
they  came  together. 

The  nation  could  hardly  restrain  its  joy.  In  San  Francisco  the  blows 
of  the  sledge  were  repeated  by  strokes  on  the  city  hall  bell  and  the  last 
blow  was  a  signal  for  the  firing  of  a  cannon  from  Fort  Point.  It  was  a 
gala  day  for  the  Pacific  metropolis,  which  had  thus  been  virtually  lifted 
and  placed  within  a  three  days'  journey  of  the  Atlantic  Coast,  instead  of 
three  months.  Omaha  was  raised  from  a  frontier  post  to  a  great  half- 
way point  between  the  East  and  the  West;  its  citizens  gave  vent  to  their 
joy  in  monster  parades  of  all  its  civic  organizations,  while  a  hundred  guns 

310 


GREAT  AMERICAN  RAILROADS 

boomed  on  Capitol  Hill.  Chicago  held  a  procession  more  than  four  miles 
in  length.  New  York  fired  a  salute  of  a  hundred  guns,  while  in  Phila- 
delphia the  historic  tones  of  the  bells  on  Independence  Hall  rang  out  the 
glad  tidings.  It  was  a  great  national  event,  in  which  all  the  large  cities 
joined  in  memorable  demonstration. 

No  man  at  that  time  had  any  comprehension  of  the  great  empire  of 
wealth  which  was  to  arise  on  sand  and  wilderness.  It  was  hardly  con- 
ceived that  great  cities  might  spring  up  along  the  way.  There  was  one 
exception :  it  was  Asa  Whitney  whose  prophecy  has  come  true  in  the  space 
of  a  few  decades,  and  "the  railroad  has  changed  the  whole  world"  in 
many  respects.  It  gave  Europe  a  means  to  send  its  goods  to  the  Pacific 
coast.  It  opened  an  avenue  for  the  silks  and  spices  of  the  Orient  to  reach 
the  Atlantic  States.  It  served  as  a  pattern  for  the  great  transcontinental 
railroads  which  now  exist  across  Europe  and  Asia,  and  which  are  even  being 
forged  through  the  heart  of  Africa. 

But  the  greatest  change  came  when  the  once  despised  Great  American 
Desert  blossomed  into  the  great  granary  of  modern  civilization.  Mighty 
commonwealths  arose  as  if  by  magic.  It  will  be  remembered  that,  when 
this  territory  was  bought  from  France  for  the  sum  of  $15,000,000  in  1803, 
the  statesmen  raved  for  decades  about  the  wicked  extravagance.  Could 
they  have  looked  through  the  curtain  of  the  future,  and  seen  the  great 
cargoes  of  produce  being  brought  out  of  this  wilderness,  their  ranting 
would  have  changed  to  paeans  of  joy.  From  the  single  State  of  Ne- 
braska, bordering  on  the  Missouri  River,  the  crop  of  alfalfa  hay  alone 
equaled  in  value  in  a  single  year  the  amount  of  money  Napoleon  received 
from  the  United  States  for  the  Louisiana  Territory. 

Let  us  take  a  hasty  tour  through  these  States  west  of  the  Missouri 
River  and  see  what  they  are  doing  to  repay  the  price  of  their  birthright. 
First  on  the  tour  is  Nebraska.  Looking  in  her  tax  books,  we  find  that 
the  real  and  personal  property  in  this  commonwealth  is  valued  at  $600,- 
000,000 — and  this  is  based  on  a  one-fifth  valuation ;  in  other  words,  "that 
region  of  savages  and  wild  beasts,"  as  Daniel  Webster  called  it,  is  worth 
three  billion  dollars.  Next  comes  Kansas,  "the  treeless  plain,"  which 
in  a  single  year  produces  farm  products  and  live  stock  valued  at  nearly 
$500,000,000.  Adjoining  is  Colorado,  once  the  despair  of  statesmen, 
which  in  the  space  of  a  half  century  has  disgorged  from  her  beautiful 
mountains  more  than  a  billion  dollars  in  gold,  silver,  lead  and  copper;  and 
still,  if  all  these  mines  were  shut  down,  the  State  would  be  independently 
rich  in  her  agricultural  products. 

We  will  now  visit  the  tier  of  States  along  the  north.  We  find  Wy- 
oming, seamed  with  coal  veins  and  saturated  with  oil,  but  still  standing 

311 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

forth  among  the  Western  States  as  a  mammoth  producer  of  agricultural 
products  and  livestock,  the  former  bringing  in  a  recent  year  ten  million 
dollars  more  than  the  whole  Louisiana  Territory  cost  the  United  States. 
Utah  is  a  modern  garden  spot  on  which  flourish  great  empires  of  sugar- 
beets,  mammoth  communities  of  beehives,  sweet  scented  forests  of  fruit 
trees,  while  out  of  its  bosom  pour  streams  of  gold,  silver,  copper,  lead, 
zinc,  and  coal,  whose  total  valuation  in  one  year  reached  nearly  twice 
the  purchase  price  of  the  whole  "wilderness."  Then  there  is  rugged 
Idaho,  which  added  in  a  single  year  nearly  $100,000,000  to  the  wealth  of 
the  nation.  Along  the  Canadian  border  is  Montana  which  digs  from  its 
bosom,  and  clips  from  its  sheep,  each  year  a  fortune  valued  at  more  than 
$75,000,000. 

Bordering  the  Pacific  are  three  mighty  commonwealths,  Oregon, 
whose  name  was  long  mentioned  in  sarcastic  terms  in  the  National  Con- 
gress, is  to-day  a  cornucopia  pouring  forth  its  wealth.  The  value  of  the 
lumber  in  its  forests  is  estimated  at  the  colossal  figure  of  $3,500,000,- 
ooo.  Oregonians  tell  you  that  "half  the  world  comes  to  us  for  lumber." 
Washington,  a  still  younger  State,  is  able  to  exhibit  an  overflowing  ex- 
chequer. Her  tax  books  show  that  in  a  recent  year  she  had  a  total  prop- 
erty valuation  of  nearly  $800,000,000;  she,  too,  is  part  of  that  "rock- 
bound,  cheerless  and  uninviting  coast,"  which  Daniel  Webster,  in  a  speech 
before  the  United  States  Senate,  declared  to  be  "without  value."  The 
third  and  last  of  these  Pacific  commonwealths,  on  our  hasty  journey,  is 
bounteous  California.  It  would  seem  unnecessary  to  recite  the  wealth  of 
this  State.  Its  taxable  property  alone  is  estimated  at  $2,300,000,000;  and 
it  pours  out  its  riches  in  sums  that  stagger  the  imagination. 

This  is  a  glimpse  of  the  great  commonwealths  which  lie  west  of  the 
Missouri;  this  is  the  dominion  which  wise  men  once  proclaimed  to  the 
world  as  "worthless."  This  is  the  region  that  was  pronounced  from  the 
seats  of  the  mighty  as  a  region  of  savages  and  wild  beasts,  of  deserts, 
of  shifting  sands  and  whirling  winds,  of  dust,  of  cactus  and  prairie-dogs 
— the  region  that  was  reclaimed  by  the  railroad.  The  average  American 
does  not  fully  appreciate  what  a  mighty  railroad  system  he  has  in  this 
country.  If  all  the  main  track  railways  in  the  United  States  were  welded 
into  one  continuous  system,  it  would  reach  to  and  extend  a  distance  of 
100,000  miles  beyond  the  moon,  which  is  some  quarter  of  a  million  miles 
away  from  our  earth.  If  this  main  track  railway  system  were  laid  around 
the  earth  at  the  equator,  it  would  form  nine  tracks  of  equal  length,  over 
which  nine  of  the  fastest  engines,  traveling  at  the  topmost  speed  ever 
attained  (115  miles  an  hour),  would  complete  the  circuit  in  about  nine 
days.  The  rails  of  a  railroad  are  but  a  single  item  in  its  equipment. 

312 


SUNSET  ON  "DEAD  SEA  OF  AMERICA" — This  is  a  glimpse  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake  in  Utah- 
It  is  80  miles  in  length  and  30  miles  in  width — The  lake  lies  in  the 
heart  of  a  vast  inter-mountain  plateau. 


MAMMOTH  HOT  SPRINGS  IN  YELLOWSTONE  PARK— "Hell's   Half  Aero,"  a  steaming  abyss 

about  30  feet  deep  in  limestone  formation — Nearby  is  a  boiling  lake 

which  bubbles  in  beautiful  colors. 


£H 


X  _ 

'/.  i 


GREAT  AMERICAN  RAILROADS 

Mighty  forests  have  been  cut  down  to  supply  the  ties  on  which  the  rails 
rest.  If  it  were  necessary  to  transport  all  these  ties  to  Europe — there 
are  about  900,000,000  of  them — it  would  require  the  services  of  all  the 
sailing  and  steam  vessels  flying  the  American  flag,  and  each  ship  would 
carry  a  cargo  consisting  of  34,000  each.  And  the  spikes  which  secure  the 
rails  to  the  ties — there  are  enough  to  supply  each  living  individual  on  earth 
with  two  apiece. 

There  were  509,000  miles  of  railroad  in  the  entire  world  in  1913, 
and  of  this  mileage  234,000  miles  or  about  46  per  cent,  are  in  the  United 
States.  In  that  same  year,  Congress  passed  a  bill  providing  for  the  valua- 
tion of  our  railroads.  At  that  time  it  was  estimated  by  the  railroad 
statisticians  of  the  country  that  the  railroads  were  worth  $19,000,000,- 
ooo.  But  so  enormous  is  the  task  that  Congress  was  asked  to  make  an 
appropriation  to  do  the  work — it  is  said  that  before  it  is  finished  it  will 
take  $20,000,000.  So  to  actually  make  an  approximately  correct  valua- 
tion of  the  railroads  of  this  country  will  require  enough  capital  to  build 
a  great  railroad.  Every  piece  of  property  is  to  be  listed  and  used.  This 
means  a  literal  count  of  the  ties,  rails,  coupling  pins,  cars,  buildings, 
original  cost  of  production  and  cost  of  reproduction,  franchises  and  other 
property. 

American  roads  carried  1,034,081,346  passengers  in  1914.  That 
is  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  number  of  people  inhabiting  the  whole  globe. 
The  American  railroads  carried  a  sixth  as  many  passengers  as  all  the  rest 
of  the  railroads  of  the  world,  though  the  American  people  constitute  only 
about  one-sixteenth  of  the  world's  population.  These  same  roads  car- 
ried 264,080,745,058  tons  of  freight  one  mile.  To  do  this  work  these 
roads  had  in  their  service  51,490  passenger  cars  and  2,331,184  freight  and 
other  cars.  Of  these  latter  there  were  1,700,000  freight  cars.  There 
are  enough  cars  to  give  one  to  every  inhabitant  living  in  Norway;  or 
enough  to  form  a  grand  pageant  on  the  railway  to  the  moon,  allowing 
ten  cars  to  every  mile  of  track.  The  modern  passenger  coaches  cost  from 
$8,000  to  $16,000  each,  and  the  luxurious  Pullmans  sometimes  cost  as 
much  as  $30,000  apiece.  It  required  nearly  two  million  persons  to 
operate  them  and  they  paid  dividends  which  exceeded  more  than  $100,- 
000,000  the  amount  of  money  which  the  people  of  Switzerland  had  in  their 
communal  and  private  banks.  These  cars  would  make  a  train  5,682 
miles  in  length  and  would  reach  from  San  Francisco  to  New  York  and 
back  almost  to  Denver.  If  each  car  were  loaded  with  10,000  pounds  of 
freight  it  would  take  42,500  locomotives  to  pull  the  train.  If  each  pas- 
senger coach  carried  fifty  people,  2,574,500  passengers  could  travel  on 
the  passenger  train.  The  whole  city  of  Chicago  could  travel  on  that  train, 

315 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

and  Boston,  Baltimore,  Cleveland  and  St.  Louis  could  all  get  aboard,  but 
the  head  locomotive  would  be  in  Washington  before  the  locomotive  at  the 
rear  had  reached  New  York.  All  this  gives  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  great 
railroad  capacity  of  this  country. 

These  facts  are  the  more  marvelous  when  we  consider  that  the  rail- 
road had  its  birth  but  about  three  generations  ago,  beginning  historically 
with  the  pioneer  steam  railway  stretching  fifteen  miles  westward  from 
Baltimore,  and  in  the  same  year  that  Webster  first  published  his  diction- 
ary (1828).  There  were  other  railroads  in  the  United  States  at  the 
time,  notably  the  one  in  Massachusetts  which,  operated  by  horse-power, 
drew  granite  from  the  quarries  at  Quincy  to  the  Neponset  River.  In 
the  light  of  present  day  achievements,  it  is  curious  to  learn  that  the  rail- 
road was  considered  a  visionary  idea  in  its  beginning,  that  few  men  were 
so  venturesome  as  to  admit  that  it  ever  could  successfully  compete  with 
canals,  the  favorite  of  that  day,  for  freighting  purposes.  It  was  the  state 
engineer  of  Virginia  who  solemnly  declared  "that  a  rate  of  speed  of  more 
than  six  miles  an  hour  would  exceed  the  bounds  of  prudence,  though  some 
sanguinary  advocates  of  railways  extend  this  limit  to  nine  miles  an  hour." 

Before  the  Nineteenth  Century,  mankind  had  to  depend  upon  their 
own  feet,  or  the  back  of  a  horse,  or,  in  some  more  favored  cases,  upon  a 
wheeled  vehicle,  to  traverse  the  earth.  When  we  consider  that  when  Na- 
poleon hurried  his  armies  over  the  Alps,  just  before  the  dawn  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Century,  he  used  about  the  same  means  of  transportation  and  did 
not  exceed  the  speed  made  by  his  illustrious  predecessor,  Caesar,  over  the 
same  route  with  his  Roman  army  in  the  days  preceding  Christ's  appearance 
on  earth,  you  will  understand  what  the  railroad  means  to  modern  civiliza- 
tion in  the  matter  of  abridging  distances. 

It  required  about  two  and  a  half  centuries  for  American  civilization 
to  extend  inland  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  banks  of  the  Missouri  River, 
virtually  traversing  the  distance  afoot,  or  at  best,  on  horseback.  But 
with  the  aid  of  the  railroad,  after  it  had  come  into  general  use,  it  swept 
on  over  the  Missouri  and  within  a  few  decades  had  converted  the  forbid- 
ding wilderness  to  the  westward  into  a  domain  of  prodigious  wealth  and 
culture,  carrying  colonization  clear  to  the  distant  shores  of  the  Pacific. 

The  benefits  accruing  to  the  Americans  from  their  railroads  are  be- 
yond calculation.  Let  us  regard  it  in  the  light  of  what  Macaulay  said 
about  abridging  distances.  When  we  reduce  the  time  of  travel  between 
cities,  we  virtually  reduce  the  intervening  distance.  By  this  measure- 
ment let  us  compare  travel  in  the  United  States  in  the  Eighteenth  Cen- 
tury with  that  of  the  Nineteenth  or  Twentieth.  Up  to  within  a  few  years 
of  the  beginning  of  the  American  Revolution,  it  required  about  thirteen 

316 


GREAT  AMERICAN  RAILROADS 

days  of  laborious  and  perilous  travel  to  go  from  New  York  to  Boston. 
In  this  time  the  modem  traveler  could  make  the  round  trip  between  New 
York  and  San  Francisco  and  still  have  a  week  left  over  in  which  to  view 
either  of  the  great  cities.  Then  it  required  about  thirty  days  to  travel 
from  Baltimore  to  New  Orleans;  to-day  it  is  a  journey  of  as  many  hours. 
From  Massachusetts  to  North  Carolina  the  modern  train  schedule  reads 
twenty  hours,  instead  of  twenty  days  of  the  early  Nineteenth  Century. 

We  are  living  through  the  mightiest  age  that  the  world  has  yet  known. 
In  the  span  of  a  single  life  of  four  score  years,  the  world  has  awakened 
from  its  slumbers  like  a  mighty  giant  and  shaken  off  the  habits  and  cus- 
toms of  the  centuries.  Knowledge,  plenty  and  beneficence  abound.  The 
earth's  dark  and  silent  places  are  now  known  and  mapped,  and  are  visited 
in  luxury  and  safety  by  the  tourist.  The  things  that  a  generation  ago  only 
those  of  wealth  could  hope  to  own  or  see  are  to-day  the  common  heritages 
of  the  modem  laborer. 

The  world  has  been  made  over  again  in  the  last  generation.  The 
modern  locomotive  literally  picked  up  our  western  frontier  along  the 
Missouri  and  carried  it  on  its  pilot  to  the  beating  surge  of  the  Pacific. 
It  has  magically  touched  barren  spots  in  the  desert  and  created  populous 
and  rich  cities  and  farm  lands.  It  has  hurtled  over  or  through  mountain 
ranges,  or  across  deep  roaring  rivers  or  broad  bosomed  inland  seas,  while 
drawing  behind  it  palatial  traveling  coaches  ladened  with  human  freight. 

How  long  could  our  great  cites,  our  rural  districts,  our  mighty  in- 
dustries and  vast  commercial  interests  exist  without  the  railroad1?  The 
locomotive  carries  modern  civilization  upon  its  pilot.  A  few  hours'  cessa- 
tion of  its  ceaseless  energy  and  millions  of  people  would  be  in  idleness 
and  want.  The  wheat  of  the  field,  the  produce  of  the  farms,  the  products 
of  the  factories  would  be  useless  and  unprofitable.  These  steel  machines 
must  keep  in  never-ending  motion  to  sustain  and  strengthen  modern  civili- 
zation, to  banish  distances,  to  spread  the  mails  and  knowledge  broadcast, 
to  mold  the  whole  lr.nd  into  a  neighborhood  and  make  possible  the  modern 
business  world. 

America  Gave  the  Steamship  to  the  World 

THEN,  there  is  another  modern  miracle  in  the  science  of  transpor- 
tation— it  is  the  steamship.     Without  it,  the  nations  of  the  world 
would  still  be  groping  in  comparative  ignorance,  poverty,  and 
peril.     With  it,  the  world  has  been  re-modeled,  reformed,  and  enlight- 
ened.    Together  with  the  railroad,  it  has  formed  a  girdle  around  the  earth. 
It  has  linked  the  continents  so  that  man  in  safety  and  luxury  can  circum- 
navigate the  globe  to-day  in  about  the  same  time  it  required  post-riders  to 

317 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

bring  the  news  of  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  to  Washington  a  hundred 
years  ago.  It  has,  as  if  by  magic,  converted  the  great  rivers  of  the  world 
from  mere  streams  of  running  water  into  vast  throbbing  highways  of 
commerce  and  travel  which  are  building  up  the  wealth  of  nations  and  in- 
dividuals. 

If  all  the  ships  sailing  under  the  American  flag  were  formed  for  re- 
view there  would  be  a  grand  pageant  of  more  than  twenty-six  thousand 
vessels.  More  than  half  of  them  would  be  propelled  by  steam.  This  vast 
fleet  of  ships  would  have  a  combined  gross  tonnage  or  capacity  of  nearly 
eight  million  tons. 

The  steamship  has  proved  the  conqueror  of  the  seas.  Great  levi- 
athans, measuring  nearly  nine  hundred  feet  in  length,  dash  across  the 
oceans  at  the  rate  of  an  express  train.  A  mighty  fleet  of  luxurious  floating 
palaces  plies  between  Europe  and  America  at  a  speed  so  great  that  a  trav- 
eler can  eat  a  farewell  lunch  in  London  on  Saturday  and  dine  in  New 
York  on  the  following  Thursday.  Less  than  a  century  ago  there  was  not 
a  steamboat  afloat  upon  the  open  sea.  Measured  by  the  speed-standards 
of  to-day,  America  was  nearly  seventy  thousand  miles  away  from  Europe 
in  the  days  of  Henry  Hudson.  Or  in  other  words,  in  the  time  required  by 
Hudson's  Half  Moon  to  sail  from  Amsterdam  to  New  York,  a  modern 
ocean  liner  could  sail  a  distance  of  nearly  seventy  thousand  miles,  or  circle 
the  globe  nearly  three  times. 

The  story  of  man's  early  attempts  to  conquer  the  seas  is  more  inter- 
esting than  fiction.  He  first  paddled  across  a  stream  on  a  log;  later  fas- 
tened two  or  more  logs  together  to  form  a  raft;  then  he  hollowed  out  the 
log  and  made  a  dug-out.  Then  came  canoes  made  of  bark  or  skins 
stretched  over  a  framework,  and  finally  ships  built  by  carpenters.  The 
first  use  of  oars  as  power  began  in  the  earliest  Egyptian  vessels,  dating 
back  to  100  B.  c. ;  they  had  as  many  as  twenty-two  oarsmen  on  each  side 
of  the  vessel.  Then  the  Phoenicians  added  decks  to  their  vessels.  The 
height  of  shipbuilding  seems  to  have  been  reached  in  the  reign  of  Ptolemy 
Philopator,  when  tradition  tells  about  a  forty-decked  vessel,  which  regis- 
tered 11,320  tons.  Then  sails  were  added  by  the  Phoenicians,  to  force 
the  winds  to  relieve  the  muscles  of  the  men  at  the  oars. 

In  the  Twelfth  Century  there  came  an  impulse  which  set  the  shipping 
circles  agog,  and  the  period  of  exploration  began.  It  was  the  discovery 
and  general  adoption  of  the  compass  by  Europeans.  It  is  said,  however, 
that  the  Chinese  were  familiar  with  the  instrument  more  than  two  thou- 
sand years  before  Christ.  With  this  wonderful  little  instrument  to  guide 
their  ships,  the  mariners  became  bolder  and  ventured  out  into  the  mysterious 
oceans.  This  resulted  in  the  great  discovery  of  the  New  World  and  other 

318 


BATTLE   ON   LOOKOUT  MOUNTAIN   IN  AMERICAN   CIVIL  WAR— This  fierce   combat  known 

as  "The  Battle  in  the  Clouds"  was  fought  on  November  24,  186.S — Federal  army 

charged  up  Rocky  Precipice,  1,700  feet  above  the  valley. 


BIRTH  OF  THE   IRONCLAD  BATTLESHIP  IN  WORLD'S  HISTORY— Historic  conflict  between 

the  Monitor  and  the  Merrimac,  on  March  !»,  1X02 — It  was  the  beginning  of  a  new 

era  in  naval  warfare — This  was  followed  later  by  the  first  submarine. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  RAILROADS 

great  voyages  of  exploration.  Then  began  the  tide  of  immigration  into 
America.  The  voyage  was  one  of  peril,  with  death,  starvation,  and  sick- 
ness always  present.  It  was  a  voyage  which  required  on  the  average  three 
months  of  extreme  hardship. 

Sails  and  oars  served  mankind  well  for  many  centuries,  but  now  his 
needs  demanded  a  new  motive  power.  There  were  many  weird  and  crude 
ideas  suggested.  One  was  to  adapt  the  treadmill  to  a  boat,  worked  by 
either  man  or  beast  and  attached  to  paddle-wheels  slung  over  the  side  of 
the  vessel.  These  attempts  to  conquer  the  wind  were  met  with  storms  of 
disapproval.  The  good  people  declared  vehemently  that  it  was  sinful 
and  an  insult  to  Divine  Providence  to  drive  a  vessel  against  wind  and 
tide.  The  inventor's  ideas  were  met  with  ridicule. 

It  remained  for  the  Americans  to  solve  the  problem.  Four  patents 
were  granted  to  inventors  before  the  nation  was  two  years  old.  The  first 
of  these  was  John  Fitch,  who  contrived  a  crude  steam  vessel,  appearing 
much  like  a  many-legged  spider  walking  on  water.  His  craft  traveled  up 
and  down  the  Delaware  River  for  three  months  in  1793  at  the  rate  of 
thirty  miles  in  thirteen  hours.  Eleven  years  later,  Colonel  John  Stevens 
appeared  on  the  Hudson  River  with  a  twin-screw  steamer  which  sped  across 
the  river  at  the  rate  of  six  miles  an  hour.  Four  years  later,  he  startled 
the  world  by  launching  a  paddle-wheel  steamer  and  sailing  through  the 
open  sea  from  New  York  to  Philadelphia — the  first  successful  attempt  in 
the  world  of  a  steam  driven  vessel  to  ride  the  boundless  ocean. 

It  was  in  1807  that  the  event  occurred  which  was  destined  to  point 
the  way  to  the  revolution  of  the  world's  commerce  as  well  as  the  world's 
navies.  It  was  in  this  year  that  the  historic  Clermont,  the  product 
of  the  brain  and  energy  of  Robert  Fulton,  was  launched,  amid  jeers  of 
ridicule  and  disbelief,  at  Corlears  Hook  Ferry,  and  began  her  momentous 
voyage  up  the  Hudson  River  to  Albany.  From  stem  to  stern  she  meas- 
ured about  150  feet,  and  was  "a  monster  moving  on  the  water,  defying 
winds  and  tides,  and  breathing  smoke  and  flame."  Her  motive  power 
was  furnished  by  a  steam  engine  connected  with  paddle-wheels  hung  over 
her  sides.  The  Clermont  performed  the  miracle  of  traveling  the  150  miles 
which  lay  between  New  York  and  Albany  in  the  remarkable  time  of  thirty- 
two  hours.  It  would  have  required  seventy-five  days  for  the  Clermont  to 
cross  the  Atlantic  ocean.  The  fastest  modem  liner,  six  times  as  long  and 
six  times  as  broad,  carrying  480  times  as  much  freight  and  more  than  a 
thousand  passengers,  has  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  four  days,  ten  hours,  and 
fifty-one  minutes. 

The  world  was  slow  in  placing  faith  in  a  new  miracle  of  the  seas. 
Five  years  elapsed  from  the  launching  of  the  Clermont  before  the  first 

321 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

steam-driven  ferry-boat  crossed  the  Hudson  between  New  York  and  New 
Jersey;  ten  years  before  Boston  saw  the  first  steamboat  enter  her  harbor; 
eleven  years  passed  before  the  first  steam  vessel  sailed  from  Buffalo 
through  the  Great  Lakes  to  Detroit;  and  it  was  twelve  years  before  the 
first  ship  set  forth  upon  the  world's  first  transatlantic  voyage  under  the 
power  of  steam. 

The  first  steamship  to  sail  from  America  to  Europe  was  the  Savannah, 
a  sailing  packet  equipped  with  an  engine,  boiler,  and  iron  paddle-wheels. 
She  slipped  from  her  moorings  at  Savannah,  Georgia,  on  the  26th  day  of 
May,  in  1819,  and  sailed  down  over  the  horizon.  Twenty-five  days  later, 
a  fleet  of  three-decked,  wooden-sided,  and  sail-propelled  men-of-war  and 
stately  merchant  ships,  cruising  off  the  coast  of  England,  was  startled  at 
the  apparition  which  appeared  in  the  waters  before  them.  Through  a  set 
of  yellow  sails  came  clouds  of  pitch  pine  and  coal  smoke.  The  decks  of 
the  watching  ships  resounded  with  the  cry  of  "Fire."  When  they  read 
the  signal  flags  of  the  Savannah,  they  were  nonplussed  to  learn  she  was 
not  afire,  but  was  sailing  under  her  new  power — steam.  They  watched 
her  curiously  as  she  slipped  gracefully  by  and  headed  in  toward  Liverpool. 

The  story  of  the  ocean  steamships  is  the  story  of  progress.  Modern 
science  has  replaced  the  old  wooden  sides  with  massive  sheer  walls  of 
steel.  The  decks  have  been  increased  in  size  and  number  until  to-day  a 
modern  ocean  liner  resembles  in  effect  a  modern  hotel,  in  which  its  passen- 
gers are  transported  from  deck  to  deck  by  elevators.  The  bows  have 
drawn  further  and  further  away  from  the  sterns,  until  now  the  whole 
vessel  measures  nearly  a  thousand  feet  in  length;  if  stood  on  end,  one  of 
them  would  overtop  the  highest  office  building  in  the  world.  All  the 
luxury  of  the  ages,  as  well  as  their  necessities,  has  been  gathered  and  in- 
corporated into  the  interiors  of  these  ships,  until  they  are  veritably  float- 
ing cities  made  of  all  the  splendor  of  ancient  despots. 

There  are  hundreds  of  communities  in  our  nation  whose  total  popula- 
tion could  be  transported  across  the  Atlantic  in  a  single  one  of  the  ves- 
sels, whose  passenger  capacity  is  estimated  at  over  4,000  persons.  These 
passengers  have  at  their  command  all  the  comforts  of  home.  One  of  the 
latest  ships  has  a  chapel,  in  which  religious  services  are  conducted,  while 
theatres,  stores,  tailor  shops,  gymnasiums,  ballrooms,  and  a  score  of  other 
traces  of  modern  life  are  to  be  found  on  nearly  all  our  ocean  liners. 

The  largest  passenger-carrying  river  steamships  in  the  world  are  on 
the  Hudson.  They  carry  6,000  persons  on  the  historic  route  between  New 
York  and  Albany.  The  steamships  on  the  Mississippi  River  and  the  Great 
Lakes  have  been  important  economic  factors  in  the  development  of  the 
interior  dominion  of  the  American  continent.  The  coming  years  will  wit- 
ness a  great  development  of  our  inland  waterways. 

322 


GREAT  AMERICAN  RAILROADS 

American  Continent  a  'Network  of  Street  Railways 

THIS  chapter  on  transportation  must  give  consideration  also  to  the 
economic  value  of  the  street  railway.  The  street  car  is  the  mod- 
ern magician  that  has  threaded  its  way  through  our  thoroughfares 
and  united  our  towns  and  cities;  it  has  formed  a  gigantic  network  over 
our  states  over  which  we  may  travel  in  nearly  any  direction  at  any  mo- 
ment of  the  day  to  any  desired  destination.  It  has  done  more  than  this — 
it  has  broken  down  the  barriers  that  so  long  held  our  towns  and  villages 
in  seclusion  and  has  transformed  them  into  modern,  progressive  communi- 
ties. It  has  linked  them  to  the  great  outside  world  and  has  made  them  an 
important  part  of  it.  It  was  only  a  few  years  ago  when  the  only  way  to 
get  out  of  town  was  to  walk,  or  to  take  the  old  stage  coaches.  Then  came 
the  omnibus  to  carry  us  from  place  to  place  within  town  limits. 

The  first  street  railway  proper  was  put  in  operation  in  New  York 
in  1831.  Horses  were  used  as  motor  power,  but  the  omnibus  gave  way  to 
a  sort  of  carriage  that  ran  on  rails.  These  rails  consisted  of  timbers 
resting  on  edge,  the  upper  edge  covered  with  a  strip  of  metal.  The 
horses  were  displaced  by  crude  steam-engines  in  1832,  but  they  were  so 
unreliable  that  in  1845  the  horses  were  again  employed.  The  horse  car 
developed  from  this  innovation,  till  finally  our  grandfathers  came  to  look 
at  the  jolting,  rattling,  bobbing  contraption  as  a  great  convenience.  The 
idea  was  thus  born  in  New  York  and  taken  up  by  various  other  American 
cities  as  well  as  the  cities  of  Europe.  Philadelphia  tried  it  first  in  1857. 
The  French  called  it  "the  American  railway." 

In  many  American  cities,  nature  helped  along  the  development  of  the 
street  railway.  Some  American  cities,  notably  San  Francisco  and  St. 
Louis,  were  so  hilly  as  to  make  the  ordinary  railways  almost  impossible. 
Other  means  were  sought  to  propel  cars,  and,  in  1 873,  Andrew  S.  Hallidie 
equipped  the  Clay  Street  Railway  of  San  Francisco  with  a  cable-car  sys- 
tem. A  slot  was  built  between  the  two  car  rails,  and  in  this  a  heavy 
cable  traveled  along.  The  cars  were  equipped  ^'ith  "grips"  that  could 
catch  hold  of  this  traveling  cable,  and  the  vehicle  was  carried  along  with 
it.  When  it  was  desired  to  stop  the  car,  the  grip  released  its  hold  on  the 
cable  and  the  car  ran  "dead."  With  the  coming  of  the  cable-car,  peo- 
ple first  raised  the  now  familiar  cry,  "The  horse  must  go."  St.  Louis, 
Chicago,  Kansas  City,  Philadelphia,  and  New  York  adopted  the  cable  sys- 
tem. There  were  700  miles  of  cable  car  railways  throughout  the  United 
States  by  1 894.  But  their  many  disadvantages,  arising  chiefly  from  want 
of  proper  control,  soon  led  to  their  abandonment. 

There  was  erected  in  1872  what  was  regarded  as  a  "freak"  railway 

323 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

in  New  York — the  elevated  railroad.  Its  freakishness  lay  in  the  fact 
that  its  rails  were  not  placed  on  the  ground,  but  rested  thirty  feet  or  more 
above  it  on  an  elongated  or  continuous  bridge.  This  was  the  first  of  its 
kind  in  the  world.  Soon  there  were  about  forty  miles  of  elevated  rail- 
road on  Manhattan  Island  alone.  People  were  slow  in  taking  to  this  new 
method  of  transportation,  because  of  its  insecure  appearance,  but  grad- 
ually New  Yorkers  came  to  depend  almost  entirely  on  them,  in  spite  of 
their  noise  and  dirt.  Chicago  and  Boston  have  been  the  only  other  Amer- 
ican cities  to  adopt  elevated  railroads.  Paris,  Liverpool,  and  Berlin  also 
adopted  the  idea. 

The  American  cities,  however,  were  still  dependent  on  the  older 
methods  of  transportation  until  1884,  when  the  first  practical  trolley- 
car  was  run  in  Kansas  City — this  is  the  beginning  of  the  real  era  of  the 
street  railway — the  era  of  electric  power.  Various  attempts  had  been 
made  to  apply  electricity  to  vehicles  for  motive  power.  As  early  as  1836, 
a  workman  named  Davenport  had  tried  it  in  Brandon,  Vermont.  His 
electric  motor  was  crude,  and  his  experiment  bore  no  fruit.  But  when 
the  mighty  genius  of  Edison  was  brought  to  bear,  success  was  assured. 
He,  in  conjunction  with  Stephen  D.  Field,  made  some  experiments  over  a 
period  lasting  from  1879  to  1883,  an<^>  at  the  Chicago  Railway  Exhibit 
held  in  the  latter  year,  they  built  a  1,500  foot  system.  To  Richmond, 
Virginia,  however,  belongs  the  distinction  of  being  the  first  city  in  the 
world  to  have  on  its  streets  a  really  practical,  as  well  as  tensive,  electric 
system  of  cars,  when  F.  J.  Prague  installed  thirteen  miles  of  electric  rail- 
way there  in  1884. 

The  growth  of  the  street  railway  since  1884  has  been  astounding. 
The  larger  cities  are  crossed  and  recrossed  by  hundreds  of  lines.  There 
were  1,261  miles  of  track  in  use  by  street  railways  using  all  kinds  of 
power  in  1890.  Twenty  years  later  there  were  23,059  miles  of  track  be- 
ing used  by  electrically  equipped  systems  alone,  and  the  number  of  passen- 
gers carried  by  all  the  street  railways  of  the  country  was  7,441,114,508. 
The  aid  that  the  electric  car  has  given  to  business  is  incalculable.  By 
its  means,  not  only  are  the  different  parts  of  the  city  linked  together,  but 
whole  regions  are  connected. 

The  street  railway  system  is  America's  gift  to  traveling  humanity. 
It  has  primarily  proved  of  immense  advantage  to  ourselves,  who  live  in  a 
country  of  vast  distances.  But  from  Petrograd  to  Capetown,  from 
Tokio  to  Rio  de  Janeiro,  wherever,  in  fact,  civilized  men  foregather  in 
large  numbers — the  street  railway  is  daily  ministering  to  the  necessities 
and  the  pleasures  of  the  people. 

324 


TROPICAL  BEAUTY  OF  AMERICA — Along  St.  George.  Florida — -This  beautiful  Land  of  Flowers 
contains  4,440  square  miles  of  lakes,  lagoons  and  rivers — Its  coastline,  including 
islands,   is   1,145   miles   long — Its  greatest   river  is   St.   John's. 


«:  I.I  Ml  'SK  OF  THE  WHITE  MOUNTAINS — Now  Hampshire  lulls  culminate  in  Mount  Washington, 

6,270  feet  high— Largest  of  its  lakes  is  seventy  square  miles  and  contains  264  islands — 

This  region  has  been  immortalized  in  art  and  literature. 


GREVT   AMERICAN    INVENTORS   AND   SCIENTISTS— This  rare  engraving  by  John  *>artain 'bnngs  «»  before 

the    cenius    that    has    revolutionized    the    world— American    inventive    skill    fnd    sciontific    disco\  cry 

have  brought  forth  the  modern  era  of  civilization— The  American  race  is  the  most  creative 


^  a 


PART  IV  CHAPTER  IX 


GREAT  AMERICAN  MINES 


The  glorious  sun 

Stays  in  his  course,  and  plays  the  alchymist; 
Turning,  with  splendour  of  his  precious  eye, 
The  meagre,  cloddy  earth  to  glittering  gold. 

— Shakespeare. 


MOTHER  NATURE  is  surely  bountiful  in  the  riches  that  she 
has  deposited  on  the  American  continent.     There  is  no  place 
on  the  face  of  the  earth  where  she  has  been  more  generous. 
The  legends  of  the  ancient  argosies  and  the  trail  of  the  golden 
fleece  are  all  brought  into  realization  on  the  Western  Hemisphere.     Here, 
we  find  the  wealth  of  Croesus  many  fold.     The  mountains  and  rivers  bring 
forth  gold  and  silver;  the  breast  of  the  earth  is  nourished  with  coal  and 
iron  and  ores.     Rich  veins  run  through  the  rocks  like  blood  vessels  in  the 
human  body. 

The  future  of  every  nation  is  not  alone  in  its  form  of  government  or  in 
the  genius  of  its  people — these  are  insufficient  in  themselves.  Man  can- 
not develop  himself  without  the  complement  of  nature.  All  riches  begin 
in  the  earth.  The  chief  asset  of  every  people  is  first  in  the  resources  locked 
within  the  ground  which  they  occupy;  and  secondly  their  skill  and  industry 
in  developing  these  natural  resources. 

The  American  people  have  become  a  powerful  race  because  they  have 
had  the  raw  materials  at  their  command  and  the  energy  and  industry  to 
utilize  them.  The  inexhaustible  wealth  of  the  continent  has  given  them 
large  opportunities — and  wealth  is  largely  a  matter  of  the  utilization  of 
opportunities.  We  have  built  our  system  of  civilization  on  solid  earth — 
bed  rock.  It  is  not  a  theory  in  economics,  nor  an  ideal  in  philosophy,  nor 
a  vision  of  sestheticism — it  is  erected  on  the  adamant  foundation  of  the 
geological  ages — the  science  of  mining  and  agriculture.  In  this  chapter 
we  will  visit  the  great  American  mines  and  assay  our  natural  resources. 
We  shall  see  that  we  have  built  civilization  not  on  shifting  sands  but  on 
foundations  as  indestructible  as  the  mountains.  Every  dollar  of  riches 
that  we  may  display  in  our  social  system  is  but  a  feeble  expression  of  the 
illimitable  riches  behind  it  in  the  rock-ribbed  vaults  of  the  earth. 

We  have  erected  a  democracy,  but  underneath  it  is  a  kingdom  of 
precious  metals  and  ores  more  regal  than  any  of  the  ancient  oligarchies — 

329 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

and  more  despotic  in  its  control  over  our  welfare — heat,  light,  transporta- 
tion, are  servile  to  the  kings  that  from  their  subterranean  thrones  rule 
humanity. 

America  is  a  mineral  crowned  king  to  all  the  world.  America,  years 
ago,  took  King  Coal's  crown  from  his  merry  old  soul  in  England  and 
brought  it  over  here  where  it  is  likely  to  remain  as  long  as  men  fire  furnaces. 
This  country  now  digs  from  its  mines  annually  600,000,000  tons  of  coal. 
This  coal  is  worth  at  the  mouth  of  the  mines  $800,000,000.  There  is  no 
single  instance  in  all  our  records  as  a  people  that  more  illuminates  the 
character  and  progress  than  our  leaping  and  bounding  increase  in  the  output 
of  our  coal  mines.  We  have  doubled  the  output  in  fifteen  years  and  have 
mined  more  than  eight  times  that  of  twenty-five  years  ago.  We  are  now 
increasing  the  output  from  35,000,000  to  50,000,000  tons  every  year  and 
with  the  opening  of  the  Panama  Canal  we  are  fast  on  the  way  to  furnishing 
the  world  with  the  cheapest  fuel  it  has  ever  known. 

Nearly  800,000  men  are  employed  in  our  coal  industry.  If  a  single 
horse-power  can  be  produced  from  the  burning  of  two  and  one-half  pounds 
of  coal  in  a  furnace,  it  will  at  once  be  seen  how  enormously  has  our  coal 
output  increased  our  power  engine  capacity.  The  gas  engine  has  increased 
the  horse-power  of  coal  fifty  per  cent,  at  least  within  the  last  fifteen  years. 
Our  600,000,000  tons  of  coal,  if  it  could  all  be  put  into  one  furnace  and 
fired,  would  produce  enough  power  to  drive  this  planet  out  of  its  orbit  if  it 
could  be  directed  against  it.  The  geologic  survey  claims  to  have  scientifi- 
cally uncovered  15,000,000,000  tons  of  coal  in  Alaska  and  there  is  treble 
that  much  in  the  United  States  proper. 

Coal  is  buried  power.  The  mammoth  ferns  and  club-mosses  of  the 
Carboniferous  Age  gathered  the  sunbeams,  storing  the  carbon  they  brought 
to  them,  and  finally  were  submerged  during  the  writhings  of  the  forming 
earth  under  masses  of  sand  and  rock  and  silt.  Thus  the  Creator  deposited 
in  our  little  planet  His  sunbeams,  so  that  when  our  earth  had  become  one 
of  varying  climates  and  seasons  (in  the  Carboniferous  Age  there  were  no 
seasons  nor  changing  temperatures),  man  would  have  a  fuel  to  warm  his 
body  and  power  to  assist  him  in  his  mighty  achievements.  The  abundant 
forest  trees  supplied  the  ancient  with  sufficient  fuel,  so  they  did  not  need 
coal.  Twelve  centuries  after  the  birth  of  Christ  mankind  began  to  use 
such  coal  as  could  be  found  in  England  and  a  few  other  civilized  countries. 
Americans  did  not  begin  their  great  coal  industry  until  about  the  dawn  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century.  Coal  had  been  known  long  before  then;  Father 
Hennepin  had  accidentally  discovered  it  along  the  banks  of  the  Illinois 
River  in  1679;  forty  years  later,  a  Virginia  boy  discovered  some  in  his  na- 
tive state ;  and  a  Pennsylvania  hunter,  by  the  name  of  Ginter,  found  some 

330 


under  an  up-rooted  tree.  Its  first  use  was  discovered  by  Obadiah  Gore, 
who  burned  coal  in  his  smith-forge  in  Wilkesbarre,  in  1769,  and  Judge 
Jesse  Fell  used  it  in  a  grate  to  heat  his  room  in  1808.  This  was  the  genesis 
of  the  American  coal  industry. 

At  the  first  centennial  of  the  American  coal  industry,  dating  from 
Judge  Fell's  discovery,  there  were  more  persons  engaged  rescuing  "buried 
power"  in  the  United  States  than  there  were  Americans  earning  their  liveli- 
hood as  teamsters,  hackmen,  draymen,  and  the  like.  A  coal-driver  blocks 
the  wheel  of  his  cart  with  a  lump  of  coal.  There  is  enough  energy  stored 
in  that  lump  to  hurl  his  cart  to  destruction.  That  lump,  if  it  weighs 
exactly  one  pound,  contains  enough  sunshine-energy  to  lift  forty-seven  tons 
one  hundred  feet  in  the  air  in  the  space  of  a  minute ;  it  is  capable  of  running 
an  electric  car,  filled  to  capacity  with  passengers,  for  a  distance  of  two  and 
a  half  miles  at  the  rate  of  twenty  miles  an  hour;  or  it  would  propel  a 
train  of  six  ordinary  coaches  and  a  heavy  Pullman  and  sleeper  one-sixth  of 
a  mile  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  miles  an  hour.  That  one-pound  lump  of 
coal  could  perform  in  one  minute  all  the  work  that  five  powerful  men  could 
accomplish  in  eight  hours — it  would  require  the  united  efforts  of  2,800  men 
to  accomplish  as  much  work  in  a  minute  as  the  lump  of  coal  can  do.  It  is 
the  great  labor  saver  of  civilization. 

That  is  the  power  of  coal.  By  it  we  are  enabled  to  live  through 
frigid  climates  and  seasons,  to  erect  gigantic  structures,  and  to  journey  to 
all  parts  of  the  earth,  either  by  land  or  sea.  Coal  mining  is  a  battle  of 
giants,  human  and  elemental.  Man  is  the  general,  and  electricity  and 
compressed  air  make  up  the  ranks  in  this  warfare.  Let  us  visit  our  great 
Pennsylvania  coal  districts.  We  enter  the  elevator  cage  and  descend  to 
the  bottom  of  the  main  shaft — one  mine  is  more  than  a  thousand  feet  below 
the  surface.  Here  we  step  out  into  a  vast  subterranean  house,  divided  into 
corridors  which  lead  to  various  rooms.  Along  these  corridors,  kept  venti- 
lated by  huge  fans  and  connected  with  each  other  by  telephone  systems, 
rumble  what  appear  to  be  miniature  electric  trains,  conveying  the  coal  to 
hoisting  buckets.  On  the  return  trip,  one  of  these  electric  engines  will 
carry  us  into  the  depths  of  the  mine,  whose  intense  darkness  is  partially 
relieved  by  the  patent  lamp  upon  our  caps.  Arriving  at  the  working  face, 
we  find  the  miner,  operating  an  electrically  driven  machine,  whose  series  of 
knives  set  upon  an  endless  chain  gash  and  tear  at  the  coal  vein.  In  another 
room  we  find  another  miner  drilling  holes  in  the  face  of  the  vein  with  a 
compressed  air  machine,  making  ready  for  the  blasting  charges.  As  we 
attempt  to  enter  another  room,  a  miner  suddenly  appears  out  of  the  dark- 
ened depths  to  warn  us  of  a  blast.  His  comrade  pushes  the  button  of  an 
electric  battery,  and  the  electric  impulse  darts  along  the  wires  into  the 

331 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

mass  of  blasting  powder.  A  muffled  roar  and  tumbling  earth  tell  their 
own  story. 

As  we  return  to  the  surface  let  us  follow  a  load  of  coal  as  it  is  sent 
to  the  breakers  to  be  broken  into  marketable  sizes  and  cleaned.  First  it 
passes  through  the  screen  made  up  of  bars  about  six  inches  apart  to  another 
screen  whose  openings  are  about  three  inches  apart.  It  is  on  these  screens 
that  the  coal  is  cleaned,  boys  picking  out  the  slate  and  other  foreign  ele- 
ments. Then  it  passes  onward,  being  alternately  run  through  rollers  to  be 
broken  up  into  small  sizes  and  then  to  screens  to  be  cleaned.  When  it 
emerges,  it  is  in  various  forms  familiar  to  the  housewife,  the  furnace  man, 
and  the  engineers. 

But  King  Coal  would  never  be  at  home  in  America  without  his  forge. 
The  earth  must  hold  much  of  him  in  its  dark  bosom  till  the  coming  of 
King  Iron.  This  latter  King  left  his  old  throne  in  England  and  moved 
to  America  about  the  same  time  King  Coal  did.  At  once  Europe  grew 
uneasy,  for  she  had  lost  two  old  kings  that  had  given  her  long  primacy  in 
the  world's  markets  and  America  at  the  same  time  became  a  world  power. 
Our  great  corn,  wheat  and  cotton  kings  are  international  monarchs,  but 
when  the  black  diamond  and  armor  kings  set  up  their  thrones  among  us, 
Europe  became  anxious.  She  began  to  study  us  with  new  eyes. 

The  United  States  produced  35,500,000  tons  of  iron  and  manu- 
factured 31,000,000  tons  of  steel  in  1914.  Germany,  our  nearest  competi- 
tor, produced  19,000,000  tons  and  England,  so  long  the  maker  of  the 
world's  steel,  stands  to-day  at  10,000,000  tons.  We  make  more  steel  than 
both  of  the  two  greatest  industrial  centers  of  Europe,  and  all  around  the 
world  stands  our  steel  bridges  even  in  the  territories  of  our  competitors. 
Our  steel  has  made  it  possible  for  Russia  to  span  Europe  and  Asia  with  the 
trans-Siberian  Railway.  It  has  made  the  Cape-to-Cairo  project  a  practical 
dream.  The  world's  great  navies  of  superdreadnoughts  never  could  have 
been  realized  until  America's  furnaces  had  reduced  the  price  of  steel.  The 
prices  of  the  steel  armor  in  the  big  ships  to-day  would  have  sunk  the  ship 
thirty  years  ago. 

But  the  greater  part  of  this  enormous  output  of  steel  went  into  the 
framing  of  houses  in  our  great  cities.  There  are  far  over  50,000  new 
steel  framed  buildings  in  the  hundred  biggest  cities  of  this  country  and 
they  are  rising  by  the  hundreds  every  month.  Our  steel  has  given  the 
world  the  elevator,  reduced  fire  insurance,  and  raised  the  skyscraper. 
What  would  the  world  be  without  America's  cheap  coal  and  steel  for 
power,  for  bridges,  for  railroads,  for  cannon,  and  battleships? 

Iron  is  the  most  wonderful  of  the  earth's  natural  treasures.  Its 
presence  can  be  traced  in  every  phase  of  life.  The  food  we  eat  has  been 

332 


GREAT  QUARRIES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES— There  are  more  than  6,000  quarries  In  this 

country,  with  an  annual  product  valued  at  over  $100,000,000 — Some  of  the  most 

beautiful  marble,  granite,  and  limestone  in  the  world  comes  from  America. 


OIL    IXIM'STUY    IN    Till-:    rNITKl>    STATES— America    is   the   world's   oil    kins:-     Its   output   ex- 
ceeds  10,000,000,000  gallons  a  year — Value  of  refined  product  is  nearly  $2,000,000,000  a 
year      It   employs   a    vast   army   of   men   and   lias   created   stupendous    wealth. 


FISH    INIM'STIJY    IN    TNITKI)   STATES — America    produces    more   fish    than   any   other   country 

in    the    world — Annual    catch    is    valued    at    $70,000,000 — It    fiives    employment    to    •_»! .".. (•(•() 

persons-  (tovernnieut  and   State  commissions  have  stocked  the  streams  of  this  country. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  MINES 

cooked  in  iron  utensils.  The  clothes  we  wear  have  been  made  by  iron 
machinery.  The  houses  and  offices  we  live  and  work  in  have  been  built  by 
and  of  iron.  Our  vehicles,  over  land  or  sea  or  in  the  air,  are  made  of  iron. 
In  fact  it  is  everywhere — in  your  veins,  in  the  satin  ribbon,  it  tinges  the 
rosy  skin  of  the  apple. 

Iron  has  always  existed ;  when  it  was  first  discovered,  or  who  was  the 
discoverer,  is  unknown.  The  story  reaches  back  into  the  dim  twilight  of 
man's  existence,  where  shadows  and  realities  are  inextricably  mingled. 
Amid  these  shadows  stands  forth  the  figure  of  Tubal-Cain,  turning  iron 
into  agricultural  instruments  and  weapons  of  war,  hundreds  of  years  before 
the  flood  swept  the  earth,  and  about  six  generations  after  Adam.  Many 
centuries  later,  we  find  Og,  King  of  Bashan,  sleeping  upon  an  iron  bed- 
stead; and  still  later  we  find  that  the  Israelites  have  been  promised,  as 
especially  desirable,  a  land  whose  stones  are  iron.  We  see  that  the  bridge 
builders  of  Babylon  fastened  huge  stones  together  with  bands  of  iron,  fixed 
in  place  by  molten  lead. 

When  iron  becomes  record,  and  not  mere  conjecture,  we  find  frequent 
evidence  of  the  use  of  iron.  We  also  find  that  it  was  held  as  too  valuable 
a  metal  for  ordinary  uses,  King  Og's  bedstead  being  considered  the  height 
of  luxury,  just  as  a  bedstead  of  gold  would  be  to-day.  Therein  lies  the 
magic  of  my  story.  By  the  wonderful  methods  we  have  of  mining  the 
ore  and  of  refining  it  until  it  is  suitable  for  our  purposes,  we  of  the  modern 
generations  can  produce  a  metal  for  the  most  humble  uses  much  cheaper 
than  any  other  ordinary  metal.  Who  to-day  would  consider  wearing  a 
necklace  or  a  ring  of  iron,  as  did  some  of  those  ancient  belles'? 

Iron  mining  has  flourished  in  more  than  half  of  the  commonwealths 
forming  our  United  States  at  some  time  during  their  history.  As  one 
deposit  was  exhausted,  or  as  a  new  and  richer  deposit  was  discovered,  the 
miners  moved  onward.  To-day  the  center  of  the  industry  rests  around 
Lake  Superior,  and  the  State  of  Minnesota  is  the  greatest  producer.  The 
American  iron-workers — there  are  about  a  million  engaged  in  all  branches 
of  the  iron  and  steel  industry — produce  about  a  billion  dollars'  worth  of  ore 
every  year,  or  more  than  a  third  of  all  mined  throughout  the  world.  The 
miners  in  some  of  the  Lake  Superior  "pits"  look  as  if  they  were  pigmies  to 
spectators  at  the  mouth  of  the  shaft.  The  mines  near  Vermillion  Lake 
extend  more  than  i  ,000  feet  into  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  where  the  miners 
are  digging  out  hard-ore  and  sending  it  to  the  surface  in  huge  buckets.  In 
another  district  the  miners  look  like  human  moles  burrowing  under  the 
earth,  until  they  have  reproduced  a  rabbit's  warren.  Then  they  blow  this 
up  with  blasting  powder,  to  secure  the  precious  ore.  Great  ore-ships  take 
most  of  the  ore  from  the  mines  to  the  iron  and  steel  centers,  where  it  passes 

335 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

through  the  smelting  process.  Pittsburgh  is  to-day  the  largest  center  in  the 
world.  There  one  will  find  mammoth  furnaces — great  cones,  lined  on  the 
outside  with  masonry  and  on  the  inside  with  steel  jackets,  between  which  a 
constant  flow  of  water  passes.  They  stand  ninety  feet  above  the  ground, 
and  at  their  tops  are  conical  caps,  also  kept  cool  by  circulating  water. 
Through  these  the  ore  is  dropped  into  the  fiery  interior,  whose  heat  averages 
about  550  degrees.  As  the  gases  generate,  they  pass  off  to  an  engine  which 
utilizes  them  to  heat  the  blast  of  the  furnace.  The  fierce  flames  melt  the 
ore,  separating  the  dross  from  the  iron.  The  latter  passes  out  through  one 
side  of  the  furnace  into  sand  channels  to  cool  into  "pigs,"  while  the  dross 
or  "slag,"  passes  out  in  another  direction.  This  is  the  iron  that  one  will 
find  in  myriad  forms  in  every-day  life,  in  telephone,  or  tea  kettle,  mowing 
machine  or  locomotive. 

Then  comes  King  Copper — without  this  Bronze  King  for  carrying  the 
words  of  men  into  ten  million  telephones  and  telegraph  receivers ;  without 
copper  for  conducting  the  electricity  of  this  globe  it  would  be  lame  and 
halt.  The  great  modern  city,  and  indeed  civilization,  would  be  as  impos- 
sible without  copper  as  it  would  be  without  iron  and  coal.  The  whole 
electrical  industry  of  the  last  thirty  years  could  never  have  come  into  exist- 
ence. The  United  States  produces  more  copper  in  a  year  than  all  the 
balance  of  the  world.  Europe  depends  largely  upon  America,  including 
Mexico  and  Alaska,  to  furnish  the  world  with  the  wires  of  the  electric 
lights,  telephone  and  telegraphs.  Our  production  was  600,000  tons  in 
1914.  We  might  symbolize  this  great  quantity  of  copper  by  stretching  it 
into  a  wire  and  girdling  the  earth  ten  times  with  it — a  250,000  mile 
wire. 

Man  has  come  nearer  to  the  center  of  the  earth  in  copper  mining  in 
Michigan  than  anywhere  else.  Here  a  copper  mine  shaft  penetrates  more 
than  5,000  feet  and  is  the  doorway  to  a  vast  subterranean  city  having  more 
than  200  miles  of  streets,  which  are  lighted  by  electricity.  Electrically 
propelled  cars  and  elevators  carry  the  "citizens"  of  this  city  under  ground, 
while  electric  and  compressed  air  drills  carry  on  their  industry.  What  is 
being  done  in  Michigan  is  true  of  many  of  our  Western  States,  notably 
Montana  and  Arizona,  though  the  mines  in  the  latter  regions  are  not  quite 
so  deep  as  these  ancient  Lake  Superior  mines.  It  was  this  district  which 
lured  the  first  French  explorers  from  Quebec,  when  America  was  being 
settled. 

There  are  more  than  80,000  copper  miners  and  smelters  in  the  United 
States,  and  we  are  producing  more  than  1,000,000,000  pounds  of  copper 
every  year.  We  get  nearly  a  third  of  this  from  the  Arizona  mines,  with 
the  Montana  mines  standing  second.  Altogether,  the  copper  mines  of  the 

336 


GREAT  AMERICAN  MINES 

Unite'd  States  yield  more  than  half  of  the  world's  total  supply.  These 
mines  are  producing  every  twenty-four  hours  more  copper  than  was  mined 
in  a  twelve  month  just  prior  to  the  American  Civil  War. 

The  Bessemer  process  has  revolutionized  the  copper  industry.  Hours 
have  become  minutes,  so  to  speak.  To-day  copper  ore  fed  into  a  furnace 
in  the  morning  can  be  shipped  as  99  per  cent,  pure  metal  by  evening. 
The  old-time  methods  required  about  four  days.  The  old-time  roasting 
stalls  and  furnaces,  covering  many  acres,  have  shrunken  to  a  Bessemer  fur- 
nace and  converter  covering  a  plot  about  twenty-five  by  one  hundred  feet 
and  capable  of  producing  1,000,000  pounds  of  copper  a  month.  By  the 
old  methods,  one  ton  of  ore  required  a  full  day's  labor;  by  the  new  processes 
one  day's  labor  reduces  four  tons  of  ore  to  fine  metal. 

We  now  come  to  oil.  In  America,  petroleum  is  written  as  one  of 
the  great  industrial  dramas  of  the  world.  American  petroleum  has  the 
fire  of  passion  in  it,  and  it  has  done  more  to  impress  the  power  of  the 
United  States  than  all  our  industries  put  together.  It  created  the  idea 
of  the  great  American  corporations  and  it  has  been  classified  with  the 
Napoleonic  government  in  its  centralized  power.  It  was  a  one-man  genius, 
a  one-man  government,  and  a  one-man  power,  and  by  its  efficiency  America 
has  long  been  the  world's  oil  king.  The  oil  output  in  the  United  States 
was  10,500,000,000  gallons  in  1914.  That  is  enough  to  float  a  half  a 
dozen  of  the  largest  superdreadnoughts  in  any  navy.  If  all  that  oil  were 
put  into  one  lamp  burning  a  thousand  candle  power  it  would  last  till 
Doomsday. 

The  oil  industry  of  this  country  is  supplied  from  more  than  a  thou- 
sand wells  and  reservoirs  in  Pennsylvania,  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and 
Texas.  Twenty-five  thousand  miles  of  pipe  line  convey  the  output  to 
the  great  refineries.  At  these  refineries  more  than  4,000,000  barrels  are 
manufactured  annually  and  some  40,000  oil  cars  are  shipped  daily.  An 
army  of  employees  are  engaged  in  this  business  and  $1,800,000.000  is  the 
value  of  the  refined  product.  Laden  oil-trains  rush  across  the  continent, 
with  their  long  trains  of  cars.  Steamships  ride  the  waves,  with  their  tanks 
full,  to  answer  the  call  of  China  and  Japan  and  far-away  New  Zealand 
for  their  supply  of  American  oil. 

The  first  to  tell  of  the  oil  in  America  was  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  in 
1595.  It  became  legendary  that  the  New  World  was  rich  in  oil.  A 
well  at  Barkeville,  Kentucky,  yielded  such  great  quantities  of  oil  in  1820 
that  on  one  occasion  it  overflowed  to  the  Cumberland  River  and  seemed 
to  "set  the  river  on  fire."  It  was  not  until  1853  that  an  American  sug- 
gested the  idea  of  using  oil  to  light  our  homes.  Far-seeing  men  saw  in 
this  idea  a  royal  road  to  fortune.  The  first  oil  company  was  formed  and 

337 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

failed.  The  first  man  to  be  successful  in  mining  the  mineral  was  E.  L. 
Drake,  who  came  upon  it  through  an  accident.  A  couple  of  workmen  were 
drilling  at  Oil  Creek,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  28th  of  August,  1859;  they 
suddenly  felt  their  tools  drop  into  an  underground  cavern,  sixty-nine  feet 
down.  The  following  day  oil  was  "struck."  This  was  the  beginning  of 
our  modern  oil  industry.  The  first  means  of  transporting  Pennsylvania 
oil  was  by  storing  it  in  wooden  casks  and  floating  them  down  the  Alle- 
gheny River.  Later,  four  miles  of  pipe  line  were  laid  by  Samuel  Van 
Sykle  at  Titusville,  Pennsylvania. 

When  the  crude  oil  is  first  taken  out  of  the  ground,  it  is  offensive 
to  the  smell  and  varied  of  color.  It  is  then  distilled  at  the  depots  from 
which  it  had  been  conveyed  from  the  wells.  Fraction  by  fraction,  the 
mighty  stores  in  the  great  wooden-shaped  reservoirs  are  purified.  From 
this  crude  oil  we  obtain  our  benzine  and  naphtha,  which  are  used  by  freez- 
ing machines  and  all  kinds  of  motors;  our  kerosene  for  light,  lubricating 
oil  for  machinery,  and  vaseline  for  medical  purposes. 

The  value  of  oil  to  humanity  can  only  be  estimated  by  its  multitude 
of  uses.  Enough  oil  has  been  taken  out  of  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  right 
here  in  the  United  States,  to  form  a  tank  line  around  the  globe — not  once 
but  a  hundred  times.  If  all  the  barrels  of  oil  taken  from  our  American 
soil  could  be  lined  up  together,  it  would  take  five  hundred  cities  the  size 
of  Manhattan  Island  (New  York)  to  hold  them.  It  would  keep  a  light 
burning  in  the  Statue  of  Liberty  for  billions  of  years.  Over  265,000,000 
barrels  of  petroleum  (forty-two  gallons  each)  are  produced  annually  in 
the  world.  The  United  States  leads  with  about  167,000,000  barrels  a 
year.  No  novelist  has  ever  lived  whose  imagination  was  so  fertile  as 
to  prophecy  even  in  fiction  the  growth  of  this  industry,  which  is  but  a 
little  over  a  half  century  old.  The  plain  story  of  oil  becomes  more  won- 
derful with  every  passing  year,  as  it  brings  its  report  of  new  fields  and 
new  springs  exporting  their  millions  of  gallons  of  oil  into  the  vast  store- 
houses of  man.  Lastly  it  has  created  colossal  fortunes  and  has  made  John 
D.  Rockefeller  the  richest  man  in  the  world. 

The  lure  of  civilization  is  gold.  It  lured  Hercules  into  the  dragon- 
guarded  garden  of  the  Hesperides;  Jason  and  the  Argonauts  to  the  shores 
of  the  Black  Sea;  the  Phoenicians  into  Spain;  the  Romans  into  Britain. 
Columbus  braved  the  perils  of  an  unknown  sea  for  it;  Cortez  and  Pizarro 
conquered  Mexico  and  Peru  in  its  name ;  Britons  traveled  to  the  Far  South 
in  Africa  to  capture  it;  pioneers  overran  California  in  search  of  it;  Amer- 
icans traveled  to  the  Frozen  North  to  find  it.  It  has  been  the  tocsin 
which  has  gathered  greater  armies  than  any  battle-cry  ever  uttered.  It 
has  steeled  brave  hearts  to  the  discovery  of  new  worlds,  and  it  has  strength- 

338 


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GREAT  AMERICAN  MINES 

ened  brave  spirits  into  populating  those  worlds  with  marvelous  cities  and 
empires. 

This  is  the  age  of  gold.  We  find  it  in  myriad  forms.  Authorities 
have  estimated  that  about  one-sixth  of  the  gold  mined  enters  into  the  arts 
and  industries,  the  balance  being  divided  up  into  gold  and  bullion. 
Billions  of  dollars'  worth  of  gold  have  been  lost.  It  is  one  of  the  mys- 
teries of  the  ages  where  it  has  gone. 

From  the  discovery  of  America  to  the  year  1911,  $14,308,237,000 
worth  of  gold  had  been  wrested  from  the  earth's  treasure  haunts.  Pure 
gold  of  that  value  would  weigh  about  23,725  tons.  If  it  could  all  be 
gathered  and  formed  into  a  pillar  twenty  feet  in  diameter,  the  top  would 
reach  within  about  twenty-five  feet  of  the  crown  on  the  Statue  of  Lib- 
erty. Our  National  Treasury  is  a  veritable  gold  mine  itself.  There  is 
a  fortune  greater  than  King  Solomon  .took  out  of  his  mines  in  Ophir. 
Twelve  hundred  tons  of  the  precious  metal  are  stored  there  and  in  the 
Sub-Treasury  in  New  York's  financial  district  in  bags. 

Gold  and  silver  have  always  fought  for  supremacy  in  the  money 
marts.  From  ancient  times  until  the  Seventh  Century,  both  gold  and  silver 
were  standard.  Then  silver  assumed  the  ascendancy  until  about  the  thir- 
teenth century,  when  gold  again  stood  beside  silver,  and  both  metals  be- 
came standard.  During  the  period  immediately  following  the  American 
War  for  Independence,  gold  forged  ahead  and  became  the  standard  all 
over  the  world. 

The  consequent  demand  for  gold  brought  on  a  crisis.  The  world  was 
in  the  grip  of  a  gold  famine.  The  golden  hoards  of  the  Incas  and  Monte- 
zuma  had  dwindled  into  a  comparatively  small  stream.  The  Bank  of 
England  was  rocking  on  its  foundations,  having  more  than  once  suspended 
specie  payments.  Eminent  economists  were  predicting  another  "Fall  of 
the  Roman  Empire."  Then,  like  Moses  in  the  desert,  gold-seekers  in  Cal- 
ifornia and  in  Australia  magically  touched  the  golden  rocks,  and,  like  two 
reservoirs  bursting  through  their  dams,  two  floods  of  gold  poured  out  over 
the  world.  Its  dazzling  sheen  changed  the  whole  face  of  industry,  altered 
the  course  of  commerce,  shifted  masses  of  people,  and  reversed  the  move- 
ment of  prices. 

It  was  the  dawn  of  the  "Golden  Age,"  which  to-day  holds  us  in  its 
thrall.  The  world  has  never  witnessed  such  a  rush  as  followed  the  dis- 
covery of  gold  in  California  in  1848.  The  modern  Argonauts  were  known 
as  the  American  "Forty-niner."  San  Francisco  was  emptied  of  its  adult 
population,  and  these  gold-seekers  were  joined  by  others  from  all  parts 
of  the  world.  Two  years  after  James  Wilson  Marshall  found  his  epochal 
nugget  in  John  Sutter's  mill-race  along  the  Sacramento  River,  there  were 

341 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

100,000  men  gathered  on  the  gold-fields,  which  ranged  for  six  hundred 
miles  and  covered  eight  million  acres.  They  took  out  $50,000,000  in  that 
year  with  crude  pans  and  cradle  rockers,  and  five  years  later  exceeded  that 
sum  by  $15,000,000. 

What  they  did  then  is  being  done  to-day,  and  more,  for  in  a  year 
California  produced  over  $19,000,000  worth  of  gold  and  still  leads  all 
other  American  gold  fields,  even  Alaska  and  Colorado,  the  El  Dorados  of 
the  later  generations.  The  modern  miner  has  revolutionized  gold  mining. 
He  delves  into  mountain  sides  with  his  electric  and  compressed  air  drills, 
often  penetrating  for  thousands  of  feet.  In  some  places  the  modern 
miner  squirts  immense  and  powerful  streams  of  water  against  a  hill-side, 
like  firemen  subduing  the  flames.  This  is  the  hydraulic  method  of  min- 
ing, which  washes  away  the  gravel  and  dirt  and  exposes  the  gold.  In 
another  district  gold  is  mined  just  as  the  coal  is.  Deep  shafts  lead  into 
the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and  from  these  there  are  tunnels  branching  out. 
Huge  timbers  brace  the  walls  and  roofs,  and  the  miners  drill  holes  in 
the  walls  with  electric  and  compressed  air  drills.  Their  ore  is  carried  to 
the  shaft  opening  in  motor  cars  and  thence  up  the  shaft  in  buckets  or 
"skips."  This  is  what  they  called  "quartz"  mining.  Then  the  ore  is 
taken  to  the  stamp  mills  to  be  crushed  into  a  fine  powder,  after  which  it 
is  treated  with  acids  and  electric  currents,  put  through  wonderful  ma- 
chinery, until  it  comes  out  in  the  form  of  bullion,  ready  to  be  shipped  to 
the  mints. 

If  gold  is  the  autocrat  of  precious  metals,  silver  is  the  democrat. 
For  every  ounce  of  gold  in  the  world  to-day,  there  are  nineteen  of  sil- 
ver. From  the  day  that  Columbus  first  landed  in  the  New  World  to  the 
day  that  China  became  a  republic,  enough  silver  had  been  mined  through- 
out the  world  to  make  2,488  four-cylinder  compound  locomotives  or  more 
than  300,000  tons  of  metal.  If  this  had  been  sold  on  the  market  at  pres- 
ent day  commercial  valuations,  it  would  have  brought  about  four  billion 
dollars.  Its  coinage  value  would  have  been  more  than  fourteen  billion 
dollars,  or  enough  to  pay  the  funded  debts  of  Italy,  Japan,  the  Nether- 
lands, and  Mexico. 

But  silver  is  accepted  in  circles  where  gold,  because  of  its  greater 
value,  cannot  enter.  It  is  in  nearly  every  American  home.  What  family 
is  there  to-day  without  its  silver  knives,  forks,  and  spoons,  its  silver 
brushes,  combs  and  hand-mirrors?  In  the  art  of  photography,  it  faithfully 
paints  exact  images  upon  printing  paper.  It  performs  feats  of  magic  in 
medicine,  in  association  with  other  chemicals.  It  is  one  of  the  surgeon's 
best  friends.  When  the  human  arteries  and  like  organs  break  down,  it  re- 
places them  and  carries  on  their  functions  quite  as  well  as  the  human  tis- 

342 


GREAT  AMERICAN  MINES 

sue.  And  it  will  carry  the  electric  spark  further  and  more  easily  than  any 
other  known  metal. 

Mexico  produces  the  most  silver,  with  our  United  States  crowding 
it  close  for  the  honors.  Our  production  is  increasing  and  we  will  soon  lead 
the  world.  American  continents,  North  and  South,  supply  nearly  five- 
sixths  of  the  world's  silver.  Before  the  discovery  of  America,  silver  was 
as  scarce  as  gold.  But  when  the  silver  floodgates  of  the  New  World  were 
opened,  it  became  so  abundant  that  its  value  deteriorated,  until  to-day  six- 
teen ounces  of  silver  is  considered  equal  in  value  to  one  ounce  of  gold.  It 
costs  as  much  to  produce  sixteen  ounces  of  chemically  pure  silver  as  it 
does  one  ounce  of  gold. 

To  transport  the  silver  mined  every  twelvemonth  in  the  United  States 
would  require  a  train  of  nearly  two  hundred  freight  cars,  and  the  ship- 
ment would  weigh  about  6,300  tons;  about  no  of  them  are  destined  for 
the  silver  and  other  industrial  shops  in  our  country;  the  balance  is  dis- 
tributed among  the  mints  and  the  seaports  for  shipment  to  foreign  lands. 

A  decade  after  the  California  gold  rush,  the  world  was  again  startled 
by  the  discovery  of  another  El  Dorado,  this  time  in  Nevada  and  con- 
sisting largely  of  silver.  Its  name,  the  Comstock  Lode,  was  a  household 
word  for  many  years.  It  was  almost  a  pure  vein,  about  four  miles  long 
and  three  thousand  feet  at  its  widest  point.  From  the  day  of  its  dis- 
covery until  the  year  1890,  a  period  of  thirty  years,  it  produced  about 
$200,000,000  worth  of  silver,  and  about  $140,000,000  worth  of  gold. 
Nevada  had  again  assumed  the  leadership  in  the  production  of  silver  in 
our  country,  with  Montana  and  Utah  close  seconds.  These  three  States 
produce  nearly  a  third  of  our  total  supply.  Out  in  these  Western  moun- 
tains sturdy  American  miners  are  forcing  the  earth  to  yield  up  its  precious 
metals. 

The  startling  phenomenon  of  mysterious  gas  bursting  like  a  pillar  of 
fire  from  the  ground  was  first  witnessed  in  the  United  States  in  1821,  by 
the  villagers  of  Fredonia,  New  York,  but  the  occurrence  passed  without 
further  agitation — it  was  the  discovery  of  natural  gas.  Thirty-eight  years 
later,  in  1859,  the  presence  of  gas  was  detected  in  great  quantities  in  Penn- 
sylvania. Little  was  known  of  its  value,  however,  so,  to  prevent  com- 
bustion of  the  oil,  the  natural  gas  was  conveyed  to  a  safe  distance  and 
burned  as  a  nuisance. 

The  great  awakening  to  the  usefulness  of  this  "dangerous  vapor*' 
came  in  1872  when  it  was  conquered  by  the  genius  of  man  in  Pennsylvania 
and  forced  to  go  to  work  for  him.  It  was  found  that  imprisoned  in  the 
great  stone  caverns  of  the  earth  are  millions  upon  millions  of  gallons  of 
petroleum.  This  oil  throws  off  powerful  gases,  which,  when  released,  are 

343 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

forced  by  compression  through  the  porous  rock  to  chambers  in  the  earth. 
A  drill,  mounted  on  a  beam  about  seventy  feet  high  and  twenty  feet  at 
the  wooden  hose,  is  used  to  puncture  the  gas  vein.  The  natural  gas  rushes 
to  freedom  with  an  average  pressure  of  two  hundred  to  six  hundred  pounds 
to  the  square  inch.  There  was  recently  a  case  in  Pennsylvania  where  the 
recorded  pressure  was  eight  hundred  to  one  thousand  pounds.  The  gas 
is  then  conserved  in  a  tank  and  directed  into  iron  pipes.  Meters  measure 
the  gas  and  it  is  conveyed  in  all  directions  to  light  the  homes  and  to 
generate  heat  and  power  in  the  factories. 

This  gas  is  in  quantities  in  the  earth  beyond  all  human  dreams. 
There  are  yet  new  regions  to  be  found;  new  fields  to  be  explored.  Day 
after  day  the  storehouses  of  the  earth  are  giving  up  new  supplies.  An 
idea  of  its  enormity  can  only  be  judged  by  the  waste  which  occurs  in  the 
United  States  alone  by  accidentally  puncturing  gas  veins  and  allowing 
the  vapor  to  escape.  A  million  cubic  feet  of  natural  gas  is  escaping  every 
day  in  Oklahoma.  The  value  of  this  for  a  single  year  is  $7,500,000. 
The  fuel  value  of  it  is  equal  to  1,250,000  tons  of  the  best  bituminous 
coal.  The  waste  is  still  more  deplorable  in  Louisiana,  where  the  means 
of  heat  are  wasted  in  the  air  and  the  people  are  paying  for  coal  which 
must  be  brought  from  a  distance.  The  wastes  in  but  three  States  made 
a  grand  total  of  $23,000,000  worth  of  natural  gas  lost  forever. 

No  one  can  estimate  the  possibilities  of  natural  gas.  They  are  be- 
yond calculation.  Millions  of  homes  will  no  doubt  be  lighted  in  the  fu- 
ture through  this  medium  of  nature's  hot  breath;  thousands  of  factories 
will  be  run  with  the  power  it  creates.  Electricity  will  probably  rely  upon 
it  for  its  generation.  The  entire  machinery  of  the  country  may  be  con- 
trolled by  its  supply.  The  miracle  of  fire  leaping  from  the  ground  has 
come  as  a  new  evidence  of  the  incalculable  riches  that  remain  hidden  in  the 
heart  of  the  earth. 

These  visits  to  the  riches  of  the  vast  subterranean  world  that  lies  be- 
neath the  American  continent,  the  foundation  upon  which  the  American 
nation  has  been  built,  might  be  continued  for  a  long  period.  There  are 
many  metals  that  we  have  not  even  mentioned,  but  this  is  sufficient  to 
impress  us  with  the  main  point — the  indisputable  claim  that  American 
civilization  is  on  substantial  ground,  that  it  is  not  merely  a  creation  of 
genius,  but  a  geological  fact — a  product  of  nature. 


844 


BAXCHES  IN  AMERICA — We  have  more  than  21.000,000  horses,  valued  at  $2,500,000,000 — The 

cowboys   of  the  Great   West  tend   the   herds   on   these   ranches — The  sheep   ranches 

produce  the  wool  for  the  American  people. 


PART  IV  CHAPTER  X 

GREAT  AMERICAN  AGRICULTURE 


"The  first  farmer  was  the  first  man,  and  all  historic  nobility  rests  on  possession  and  use 
of  land."  —Emerson. 


AGRICULTURE  is  the  first  of  man's  achievements — it  was  his 
first  discovery  in  the  science  of  human  existence.     There  has 
never  been  a  great  people  without  a  great  agriculture;  all  real 
values,  say  the  economists,  are  land  values.     The  first  of  all 
modern  commercial  nations  must  be  built  on  the  foundation  of  its  green 
fields — it  comes  from  the  earth;  there  is  its  sustenance.     The  one  thing 
that  threatens  the  supremacy  of  a  nation  is  when  its  cities  and  commerce 
have  outgrown  its  fields  and  agriculture  resources — that  is  the  first  step  to- 
ward national  starvation. 

America  has  come  into  the  family  of  nations,  endowed  with  an  agri- 
cultural heritage,  the  richest  in  the  world.  Its  rich  soil  spans  more  than 
thirty  degrees  of  latitude  and  forty  degrees  of  longitude,  reaching  from 
the  fruits  of  the  semi-tropics  to  the  grains  of  the  North.  This  gives  to 
the  nation  an  imperishable  physical  foundation.  America's  greatness  and 
power  was  born  out  of  an  agriculture  that  promises  never  to  slacken  its 
pace  with  the  growth  of  the  nation.  We  are  the  only  nation  that  can  now 
live  absolutely  on  our  own  soil. 

The  first  item  of  the  nation's  wealth  are  the  farms  of  the  country. 
There  are  over  600,000  farms,  more  farms  than  in  the  Russian  Empire, 
which  is  over  twice  the  area  of  the  United  States.  These  farms  are  valued 
at  more  than  $40,000,000,000.  Some  of  them  are  the  largest  farms  in 
the  world.  In  Kansas  there  is  a  farm  of  more  than  twenty-five  thousand 
acres,  and  the  Dakotas,  Nebraska,  and  Texas  have  a  number  of  farms 
exceeding  ten  thousand  acres. 

The  American  farms,  exclusively  of  their  stock  and  everything  but  the 
buildings,  are  worth  more  than  the  entire  Russian  Empire  with  its  over 
7,000,000  square  miles,  its  railroads,  its  mines,  its  great  cities.  On  these 
farms  there  are  nearly  $3,000,000,000  worth  of  farm  animals  including 
their  yield  of  products.  There  are  more  than  56,000,000  cattle,  over 
20,000,000  horses;  50,000,000  sheep;  more  than  4,000,000  mules;  more 
than  58,000,000  swine.  These  animals  all  told  are  more  than  190,- 
000,000  in  number.  The  milch  cows  produced  983,000,000  pounds  of 
butter  last  year,  not  to  calculate  the  gallons  of  milk.  The  horses  of 

347 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

the  country  are  equal  in  power  to  all  the  power  of  our  steam  and  water 
machinery.  These  huge  animal  figures  do  not  include  the  poultry,  which 
is  a  big  item  in  the  nation's  wealth.  The  great  American  hen  lays  5,000,- 
000,000  eggs,  or  five  dozen  eggs  for  each  inhabitant  of  the  country.  It 
must  have  required  100,000,000  hens  to  lay  all  these  eggs.  The  dairy 
products  of  the  United  States  exceeded  $350,000,000  in  value.  Of  these 
animals,  over  20,000,000  cattle,  sheep  and  hogs  are  annually  slaughtered 
for  meat — more  than  any  four  countries  in  Europe  produce.  Our  meat 
and  poultry  production  together  exceeds  that  of  England,  France,  Ger- 
many, and  Italy. 

Agriculture,  beginning  with  the  days  of  the  first  settlements,  was  the 
chief  occupation  of  the  American  people.  Not  only  of  the  whole  nation, 
but  especially  of  the  American  born.  The  census  reports  show  that  of  all 
the  native  born,  exactly  one-half  were  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits. 
The  foreign  born  on  the  contrary  are  attracted  more  largely  by  mills, 
factories  and  mines.  The  only  nationality  that  approaches  the  natives  in 
the  proportion  of  agriculturists  which  they  give  to  the  nation,  is  the 
Scandinavian,  50  per  cent,  of  whose  members  till  the  soil. 

American  agriculture  presents  certain  peculiarities  which  deserve  at- 
tention. The  tendency  has  been  to  concentrate  all  efforts  on  certain  great 
staples:  wheat,  corn  and  cereals  in  the  North;  cotton,  rice  and  sugar  in 
the  South.  In  the  production  of  those  commodities  a  tremendous  advance 
has  been  made  and  extraordinary  results  obtained.  This  was  due  mainly 
to  the  industrial  genius  of  the  men  who  developed  the  soil  of  this  land. 
American  agriculture  (like  American  railways)  has  been  marked  by  its 
adaptation  to  the  peculiar  needs  and  conditions  of  the  country.  It  has  been 
not  intensive  but  extensive.  Like  the  railroad,  it  has  spread  thinly  over 
immense  spaces,  instead  of  concentrating  its  efforts  on  small  patches  of  land. 
Foreign  writers  several  decades  ago  often  mentioned  the  slipshod  methods 
of  the  American  farmer,  the  meagerness  of  the  crops,  the  waste  of  manure, 
the  failure  to  rotate  crops,  etc.  But  the  American  farmer  was  only  adopt- 
ing the  methods  which  were  the  most  advantageous  for  a  community  having 
an  abundance  of  land  and  not  obliged  to  confine  its  operations  to  a  small 
number  of  acres.  The  important  thing  for  a  farmer  was  not  how  much 
he  could  get  out  of  a  certain  acreage  but  how  much  he  could  get  out  of  a 
certain  amount  of  labor. 

Land  being  cheap,  it  was  more  profitable  to  raise  ten  bushels  of  wheat 
per  acre  on  50  acres  than  25  bushels  to  the  acre  on  10  acres.  Conditions 
changed  slowly,  however,  as  the  population  became  larger,  and  the  soil 
was  becoming  exhausted.  The  transition  from  extensive  to  intensive 
farming  has  accomplished  itself  almost  completely  in  New  England,  New 

348 


GREAT  AMERICAN  AGRICULTURE 

York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio.  It  has  just  begun  in  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley. In  the  Far  West,  on  the  other  hand,  the  practical  methods  of  the 
first  settlers  will  still  obtain  for  some  time  yet. 

The  abundance  of  the  soil  was  not  the  only  factor  that  determined 
the  enormous  development  of  American  agriculture.  A  factor  quite  as  im- 
portant was  the  extensive  use  of  machinery.  There  is  no  branch  of  in- 
dustry in  which  the  ingenuity  and  enterprise  of  the  American  nation  have 
been  so  strikingly  manifested  as  in  the  invention  of  agricultural  implements. 
Mowers,  reapers,  binders,  plows,  cultivators,  harrows  and  an  endless  variety 
of  other  mechanical  tools  have  revolutionized  agriculture  in  this  country 
and  will  gradually  revolutionize  it  the  world  over.  It  has  been  calculated 
that  the  amount  of  human  labor  now  required  to  produce  a  bushel  of  wheat 
is  only  ten  minutes,  while  it  required  three  hours  fifty  years  ago.  The  ease 
with  which  large  pieces  of  land  on  the  Western  prairie  could  be  acquired 
and  placed  under  one  single  management  has  led  to  the  creation  of  farms 
the  like  of  which  the  Old  World  had  never  known.  And  on  those  farms 
as  a  rule  only  one  single  staple  is  produced.  This  high  tide  record  in 
farming  is  due  to  an  abundance  of  land  and  a  preponderant  population  on 
the  land  to  begin  with,  and  now  to  the  application  of  science  to  the  soil  in 
all  the  older  settlements  of  the  United  States. 

The  progressive  American  agriculturist  of  to-day  must  have  as  liberal 
an  education  as  any  worker  in  the  nation.  He  must  be  an  agricultural 
chemist,  an  engineer  and  mechanic,  a  bacteriologist.  He  must  understand 
eugenics  as  they  apply  to  his  stock,  rural  economics,  horticulture,  soil, 
physics,  agronomy  and  thremmatology.  That  last  is  the  science  of  breed- 
ing new  kinds  of  plants,  as  well  as  animals. 

The  ancients  practiced  and  appreciated  agriculture,  or  husbandry,  as 
they  liked  to  call  the  science.  It  was  Cicero  who  made  Cato  say:  "The 
home  of  a  good  and  industrious  husbandman  is  stored  with  wealth,  and 
nothing  can  be  more  beautiful,  nothing  more  profitable  than  a  well  culti- 
vated farm."  Wherever  one  goes  throughout  our  nation,  one  will  find 
flourishing  farm  lands  circling  round  cities  and  towns.  There  one  will  see 
great  fields  of  growing  grain,  heavily  burdened  orchards  of  fruit,  trim  and 
scientifically  arranged  farm  buildings;  modern  suburban  homes  lighted  by 
electricity  (as  are  the  farm  buildings),  heated  by  modern  methods, 
equipped  with  the  latest  house-keeping  devices,  connected  with  neighbors 
and  cities  by  telephone  wires,  which  also  radiate  throughout  the  whole 
farm,  connecting  the  owner  with  all  points  of  his  field  of  operations.  One 
may  meet  the  farmer  and  his  wife  and  children  speeding  along  macadam- 
ized highways  in  high-power  automobiles,  the  children  destined  for  a  mod- 
ernly  equipped  school  where  they  study  the  science  of  agriculture  as  well 

349 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

as  the  studies  of  the  city-student,  the  wife  probably  making  her  social  calls 
while  the  farmer  continues  onward  to  sell  his  crops  in  the  city. 

This  is  the  day  of  scientific  farming.  On  the  model  farm  one  worker 
may  be  putting  blue  litmus  paper  into  the  ground  to  find  out  if  the  soil 
is  sour;  or  another  may  be  knocking  half  the  apples  from  the  trees,  so 
that  the  remaining  fruit  will  be  of  better  quality.  In  the  cow  barn  an- 
other may  be  spreading  raw  phosphate  to  be  put  in  the  soil  to  assist  the 
plants  and  grains  to  grow.  Out  in  a  field  a  worker  is  spreading  a  coating 
of  soil,  brought  from  another  field,  to  inoculate  the  poorer  soil  with  bacteria 
and  help  the  legumes  to  flourish.  That  thundering  noise  heard  is  the 
dynamite  exploding  or  subsoiling  the  earth  so  that  the  roots  of  the  crops 
can  penetrate  farther  into  the  earth  and  get  nourishment  that  otherwise 
would  be  forever  cut  off  from  it. 

These  are  a  few  of  the  scientific  methods  which  have  enabled  the 
modern  farmer  to  perform  that  miracle  of  "making  two  blades  of  grass 
grow  where  one  grew  before."  Turn  to  the  reports  of  the  Agricultural 
Department,  that  wonderful  institution  which  is  spreading  its  knowledge 
and  beneficence  among  the  farmers,  and  find  out  what  the  actual  results 
have  been  during  the  last  decade.  They  relate  that  the  yield  of  corn  per 
acre  all  over  the  country  has  gained  on  the  average  more  than  seven  per 
cent,  and  wheat  over  nine  per  cent.  There  are  many  more  items,  but  these 
will  illustrate  what  scientific  methods  mean.  These  figures  are  for  only 
one  decade,  and  the  preceding  decades  shows  a  proportionate  increase,  ever 
since  the  close  of  the  American  Civil  War  when  agriculture  began  to  receive 
the  attention  of  scientists.  Since  that  time,  the  bushels  to  an  acre  of  some 
staples  have  increased  from  thirty  to  sixty. 

The  farmer  is  almost  the  only  inventor  who  does  not  keep  his  discov- 
eries for  profit  to  himself  alone.  Owing  to  this  fact  the  world  is  able 
to  test  its  cows'  milk  productivity  through  Babcock's  testing  machine;  is 
able  to  grow  the  naval  orange  which  William  Saunders  brought  into  the 
country  and  the  Wealthy  apple,  said  to  be  the  best  of  apple  seedlings, 
which  cost  Peter  Gideon  of  Minnesota  his  last  $5  for  seeds  (even  while  he 
had  to  make  a  coat  out  of  a  pair  of  trousers  and  a  vest) ;  or  the  wonderful 
Minnesota  experiment  station,  which  to-day  has  added  15  per  cent,  to 
the  wheat  crop  in  a  decade.  It  was  Wendelin  Grimm  who  gave  alfalfa 
to  America  after  having  brought  it  from  his  native  home  in  Bavaria  ten 
years  before  the  Civil  War  broke  out.  The  Alabaman,  James  F.  Duggar, 
was  the  discoverer  of  the  modern  method  of  inoculating  soils,  and  he  pub- 
lished his  conclusions  in  bulletins  which  were  so  well  distributed  through- 
out the  land  that  there  is  scarcely  any  modem  American  farmer  who  does 

350 


I.KMON  r.nnvEs  IN  CALIFORNIA. 


OliA.NGK  GROVE   IN    V-ALIFORX1A. 


FRUIT  PRODUCTION  IN  AMERICA — The  wealth  of  the  orchards  in  the  United  States  gives  an 

annual  production  exceeding  $200,000,000  each  year — This  tremendous  fortune  Is  but  one 

of  the  lesser  elements  In  the  agricultural  wealth  of  the  United  States. 


TOl'.AtVO    PLANTATIONS   IN   AMERICA — Tobacco  was   unknown   to   the   civilized  world  before 

discovery  of  America — It  was  first  found  in  Mexico  in  1558 — The  United  States  is 

producing  more  than  a  billion  pounds  a  year,  valued  at  about  ?  1  -5. 0< (0.000. 


SUGAR  PLANTATIONS  IN  AMERICA — Sugar  cane  was  broupht  Into  Louisiana  by  the  Jesuits  in 

1751 — The  Americans  were  the  first  to  refine  sugar  in   1792 — The  United 

States   now   produces   over  20,000,000   tons  a  year. 


AMERICAN    FRUITS   IN    HAWAII — Pineapple   plantations — The   pineapple   is    a   native  of   the 

American  tropics,  but  has  been  introduced  into  warm  climates  throughout  the  world: 

West    Indies,     Florida,     Northern     Africa,     Hawaii    and    Azores    Islands. 


<:HI;AT    KOKKSTS   OF  AMERICA — The  United    States   possesses   700,000,000   acres   of  forest- 
Millions  of  acres  have  been  devastated  to  secure  lumber  to  build  the  nation — The  govern- 
ment has  now  entered  upon  a  conservative  policy  to  preserve  its  forest  resources. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  AGRICULTURE 

not  understand  how  to  transfer  good  soil  to  poor.  The  names  of  these 
benefactors  to  the  farmer  and  the  nation  are  legion. 

One  of  the  greatest  benefactors  is  the  Government  itself,  through  the 
Department  of  Agriculture.  In  a  recent  year  its  directing  official  figured 
what  the  Department  had  actually  accomplished,  in  dollars  and  cents, 
for  the  country.  It  reached  the  tremendous  figure  of  $231,859,000,  count- 
ing only  those  larger  items  which  could  be  estimated,  and  they  ranged 
through  all  branches  of  agriculture. 

It  was  estimated  that  for  frost,  cold  wave  and  river-rising  warnings, 
the  Weather  Bureau  saved  the  country  $25,000,000.  The  Bureau  of 
Soils,  which  shows  the  adaptation  of  soils  to  crops,  methods  of  handling 
soils,  and  studying  the  alkali  problems,  totaled  about  $9,000,000.  The 
money  spent  for  the  destruction  of  farm  pests,  coyotes,  wolves,  and 
other  animals  which  endanger  crops,  and  also  for  encouraging  certain 
birds  of  value,  is  conservatively  estimated  by  the  Bureau  of  Biology  at 
$3,000,000.  For  introducing  the  Australian  ladybird  to  eat  the  San  Jose 
scale,  not  to  mention  the  work  on  the  black  scale,  cotton  insects,  includ- 
ing the  boll  weevil,  and  the  insects  which  prey  on  general  crops,  the  Bureau 
of  Entomology  required  $5,000,000.  The  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry 
claimed  $29,000,000,  mentioning  as  its  largest  item  the  introduction  of 
Durum  wheat.  The  largest  bureau  is  that  of  animal  industry,  and  it 
claimed  over  $50,000,000,  distributing  its  claims  through  tick  eradication, 
subduing  pleuro-pneumonia,  dairy  investigations,  new  treatment  of  milk 
fever,  dipping  sheep  for  scabies,  inspecting  cattle-ships,  and  inspecting 
meat.  Then  there  is  the  Good  Roads  Office,  which  aids  in  the  building 
of  new  and  repairs  old  roads  throughout  the  rural  districts,  and  the  Forest 
Service  for  maintaining  forest  reserves,  thus  preserving  stream  flow  and 
indirectly  bringing  the  rain  in  needed  seasons. 

The  agricultural  experiment  stations  are  the  outposts,  or  scouts,  of 
the  Agricultural  Department.  There  are  about  sixty  in  the  United  States, 
located  in  every  State  and  Territory,  and  they  are  units  of  the  Agricultural 
Colleges  which  are  establishing  scientific  American  agriculture.  Michigan 
claims  the  honor  of  first  establishing  an  agricultural  school,  providing  for 
one  in  1850,  making  it  a  part  of  her  second  State  constitution.  Seven 
years  later,  Justin  S.  Morrill,  the  Father  of  American  Agricultural  Col- 
leges, introduced  a  bill  to  the  House  of  Representatives  to  endow  the  Land 
Grant  Colleges  which  Congress  had  established.  Connecticut  claims  the 
first  experiment  station,  opening  one  at  Middletown  to  be  conducted  along 
modern  lines,  later  moving  it  to  New  Haven. 

It  is  these  stations  that  reduce  scientific  agriculture  from  theory  to 

355 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

practice.  The  results  of  the  experiments  are  published  in  bulletins  and 
sent  to  the  farmer.  They  will  test  the  soils  submitted  and  advise  the 
farmer  the  best  crops  to  grow,  or  how  to  increase  the  fertility  of  the  soil 
so  as  to  increase  the  yield  per  acre.  What  is  true  of  soil  is  also  true 
of  any  part  of  a  farm  or  its  products.  When  a  new  plant  suitable  for 
growth  in  America  is  found  in  any  distant  clime — and  the  Department 
of  Agriculture  maintains  a  large  corps  of  expert  agriculturists  to  comb  the 
earth  for  these  plants — it  is  first  tried  out  in  experiments  and  if  practical 
the  information  is  sent  broadcast.  We  mention  just  one  instance  to  illus- 
trate what  this  service  means.  A  man  sends  word  to  the  department  that 
his  land,  bordering  the  overflown  banks  of  the  Great  Lakes,  is  too  wet 
to  grow  anything.  Back  to  him  comes  a  package  of  taros,  or  yautias,  or 
dasheens,  and  probably  all  three,  with  instructions  on  how  to  plant  and 
raise  them,  with  the  further  assurance  that  they  will  not  only  thrive  in  the 
wettest  soil  and  are  more  edible  than  the  sweet  potato,  but  that  starch, 
flour,  alcohol,  and  a  few  other  things  as  well  can  be  made  from  these  arti- 
cles which  one  of  the  department  scouts  found  in  the  interior  of  Africa. 

The  agricultural  resources  of  the  United  States  are  bound  to  increase 
continually  as  intensive  cultivation  takes  the  place  of  extensive  cultiva- 
tion. Furthermore,  to  the  arable  lands  now  at  the  disposal  of  agricultur- 
ists, irrigation  is  constantly  adding  new  fertile  tracks.  Until  1902,  all 
the  irrigation  work  had  been  done  by  private  parties.  The  Reclamation 
Act  provides  for  irrigation  works  built  by  the  Government,  which  repays 
itself  for  expenses  incurred  out  of  the  sale  of  land  and  water  rights. 
Up  to  1910,  some  15,000,000  acres  of  land  had  been  reclaimed  in  that 
way  in  the  arid  Western  States.  This  system  has  proved  very  profitable, 
for  the  receipts  up  to  1910  had  been  larger  by  $15,000,000  than  the  expen- 
ditures. Irrigation  has  enabled  many  men  with  slim  resources  to  settle  on 
cheap  but  fertile  tracks  of  land  in  the  West,  and  the  number  of  small  farms 
has  increased  considerably  in  recent  years.  It  is  estimated  that  there  are 
brought  under  cultivation  1,000  new  farms  every  year  in  the  Western 
States,  compensating  the  steady  abandonment  of  farm  lands  in  the  East, 
particularly  in  New  England  and  New  York  State. 

America  grows  more  corn  than  all  the  other  countries  of  the  world 
and  it  has  therefore  been  called  Corn  King  of  the  world.  This  year  it 
is  estimated  by  the  Agricultural  Department  that  the  crop  will  be  3,000,- 
000,000  bushels.  Last  year  it  was  2,500,000,000  bushels  in  round  num- 
bers. This  gigantic  production  of  corn  has  made  it  possible  to  raise  all 
these  valuable  animals  and  poultry  on  the  farms  and  it  has  made  America 
the  world's  meat  market  as  a  consequence. 

To  give  an  idea  of  this,  the  greatest  cereal  crop  in  the  world,  let 

356 


GREAT  AMERICAN  AGRICULTURE 

us  suppose  that  the  crop  reaches  only  2,750,000,000,  a  very  conservative 
estimate.  If  this  corn  were  loaded  in  cars  of  1,000  bushels,  it  would  re- 
quire 2,500,000  cars  and  85,333  locomotives  carrying  thirty  cars  each  to 
carry  this  enormous  crop.  All  the  locomotives  and  grain  and  box  cars  in 
the  United  States  and  Europe  could  not  carry  it  on  one  trip,  and  if 
stretched  out  in  a  straight  line,  allowing  thirty  feet  for  each  car  and 
space  between  the  end  of  each  car,  it  would  be  17,067  miles  in  length, 
and  would  reach  from  San  Francisco  to  New  York,  Liverpool,  Berlin, 
Constantinople,  Bombay,  and  Hong  Kong,  China.  This  immense  train 
would  girdle  the  United  States  twice,  beginning  at  Chicago  with  a 
double  track,  thence  to  New  York,  Baltimore,  Wilmington,  Savannah, 
Jacksonville,  Fla.,  Mobile,  New  Orleans,  Galveston,  Houston,  San  An- 
tonio, El  Paso,  Los  Angeles,  San  Francisco,  Portland,  Seattle,  Helena, 
Montana,  Minneapolis,  Milwaukee,  and  Chicago,  the  starting  point.  The 
weight  of  this  enormous  corn  crop  would  be  143,360,000,000  pounds.  If 
corn  is  worth  75  cents  a  bushel  to-day,  this  enormous  corn  crop  would  be 
worth  about  $1,700,000,000.  This  corn  crop  would  be  worth  as  much  as 
our  great  iron  and  steel  industry,  or  as  much  as  our  wheat  and  cotton  crop 
combined. 

The  biggest  corn  farm  in  the  world  is  located  in  the  State  of  Missouri. 
This  farm  contains  more  than  twenty-five  thousand  acres.  More  than 
8,000  head  of  cattle  are  fed  on  this  farm  and  nearly  10,000  head  of  hogs. 
The  great  corn  States  are  Illinois,  Iowa,  Missouri,  Nebraska,  Kansas,  In- 
diana, but  corn  is  cultivated  on  a  large  scale  in  eighteen  other  States.  The 
total  production  is  close  to  three  billion  bushels,  and  the  total  acreage 
close  to  110,000,000  acres.  The  United  States  produces  three-fourths  of 
the  world's  entire  corn  crop.  Minnesota,  North  Dakota,  South  Dakota, 
Kansas,  Nebraska,  Indiana,  Washington  are  entirely  devoted  to  the  rais- 
ing of  winter  and  spring  wheat,  the  average  annual  crop  being  about  750,- 
000,000  bushels  on  an  average  area  of  47,000,000  acres. 

America  grows  more  wheat  than  any  country  except  Russia.  This 
year  it  is  estimated  that  the  crop  will  reach  1,000,000,000  bushels.  But, 
if  it  has  to  take  second  place  in  wheat  production,  it  comes  up  to  the  top 
again  in  hay,  and  forage.  The  value  of  the  hay  crop  last  year  was  nearly 
$800,000,000  and  exceeded  in  value  all  the  metals  mined  in  this  country 
but  pig-iron.  Hay  is  a  twin  brother  to  corn  in  making  America  the  land 
of  beef.  The  hay  crop  is  now  75,000,000  tons,  and  it  would  take  far  more 
cars  to  haul  this  hay  than  the  corn  crop. 

But  America  is  King  Cotton  as  well  as  King  Corn,  Queen  Hen,  Queen 
Cow  and  King  Grass,  to  the  whole  world.  It  raises  over  70  per  cent,  of  the 
world's  entire  cotton  crop.  The  high  water  mark  of  this  crop  was  14,- 

357 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

100,000  bales  in  1912.  At  $50  a  bale  it  would  amount  to  $705,000,000. 
But  as  hay  and  corn  are  converted  into  meat,  more  than  doubling  their 
original  value,  so  more  than  half  of  the  cotton  now  grown  in  this  country 
is  manufactured  into  products  more  than  quadrupling  its  original,  raw 
value.  The  great  American  cotton  crop  when  it  has  passed  from  the  gins 
through  the  factories  pays  to  the  American  people  in  actual  profits  the  sum 
of  at  least  $2,000,000,000.  The  cotton  States  are  Texas,  Georgia, 
Mississippi,  Alabama,  South  Carolina,  Arkansas,  the  annual  yield  being 
on  the  average  of  14,000,000  bales  or  two  thirds  of  the  world's  production. 

The  cane  sugar  States  are  Louisiana  and  Texas,  which  produce  some 
350,000  tons  yearly;  the  beet  sugar  States  are  Colorado,  Michigan  and 
California.  There  are  about  450,000  tons  of  sugar  extracted  from  some 
3,500,000  tons  of  beets. 

The  oat  crop  is  generally  over  a  billion  bushels  a  year,  and  the  area 
is  close  to  35,000,000  acres.  The  oat  States  are  Illinois,  Iowa,  Minnesota, 
Wisconsin,  Nebraska,  Ohio,  Indiana,  the  Dakotas,  Michigan,  and  New 
York,  producing  each  from  1,000,000  to  4,500,000  bushels. 

The  rice  crop  of  the  United  States  is  approximately  24,000,000  bush- 
els, grown  on  750,000  acres.  The  rice  States  are  Louisiana,  Texas,  Arkan- 
sas, South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Florida  and  North 
Carolina.  The  value  of  the  Louisiana  crop  is  on  the  average  $10,000,000 
a  year. 

The  above  facts  and  figures  constitute  that  which  is  and  must  always 
remain  the  body,  the  backbone,  and  spinal  cord  of  the  great  republic.  It 
is  these  staggering  figures  that  we  have  dug  out  of  our  fields,  and  housed 
in  our  barns  and  elevators,  our  mills,  smoke  houses,  and  pantries.  You 
will  no  longer  wonder  that  we  are  the  best  fed  nation  on  earth,  and  that 
we  are  always  ready  out  of  our  great  abundance  to  pour  into  the  lap  of 
charity  and  put  bread  into  the  mouths  of  the  unfortunate  and  starving 
throughout  the  earth. 


358 


SHEEP    RANCHES    IN    AMEHirA — There    are    in    the    United    States    over    50,0<>0,0<X> 
valued  at  nearly   $.'{00,000.000 — Thev    produce   annually   over  300,000,000 
pounds  of  wool  valued  at  $60,000,000, 


sheep 


PART  IV  CHAPTER  XI 

GREAT  AMERICAN  BANKS 


"Private  credit  is  wealth ;  public  honor  is  security." 

— Junius. 


MONEY  is  the  driving  power  of  the  world;  it  is  its  physical 
generative  force.     A  nation's  ability  to  accumulate  money 
denotes  its  ability  not  only  to  plan  and  launch  enterprises, 
but  to  make  multiplication  tables  of  profit  out  of  its  enter- 
prise.    No  nation  can  ever  grow  great  without  the  gift  to  make  money 
honestly  and  use  it  with  wisdom.     America  shows  that  it  possesses  this 
gift  to  a  pre-eminent  degree.     It  has  made  and  saved  more  money  than 
any  other  nation,  because  it  has  more  generative  force,  more  enterprise, 
more  inventiveness,  and  more  natural  wealth.     The  following  chapter 
shows  how  America  gives  the  most  concrete  expression  to  its  great  money 
power. 

The  banking  power  of  America  is  now  nearly  two-fifths  of  the  bank- 
ing power  of  the  entire  world.  In  another  decade,  at  the  rate  it  is  increas- 
ing (219  per  cent.,  while  the  balance  of  the  world  is  increasing  102  per 
cent.),  it  will  be  over  half  the  world's  banking  power.  In  1906  our 
banking  power  was  $16,000,000,000,  or  greater  than  the  banking  power 
of  the  whole  world  in  1890.  In  1908  it  had  reached  $19,500,000,000;  in 
1912,  $25,000,000,000,  and  by  the  end  of  1915  it  is  estimated  that  it 
will  have  reached  $28,000,000,000,  while  the  balance  of  the  world  will 
have  reached  only  $42,000,000,000.  In  ten  years  it  has  nearly  doubled 
itself.  There  is  nothing  in  our  growth  and  progress  as  a  nation  more 
amazing  than  these  enormous  figures,  this  huge  aggregation  of  financial 
power. 

More  than  any  other  item  in  our  national  wealth  does  this  banking 
power  represent  the  energy,  the  industrial  and  commercial  vitality  of 
the  people.  It  is  the  industrial  and  commercial  blood  of  the  nation  in 
circulation  and  it  circulates  with  a  power  and  pressure  unknown  in  all 
the  past.  Here  is  a  people  grouped  under  one  nation  and  representing 
only  one-sixteenth  of  the  human  race,  with  two-fifths  of  the  whole  race's 
capacity  to  circulate  among  themselves  and  into  the  outer  world  their 
financial  and  commercial  power.  Nine-tenths  of  this  great  power  is  con- 
fined to  the  carrying  on  of  domestic  trade  and  transactions  at  home.  Eng- 
land and  Germany  each  has  had  a  much  larger  foreign  trade  than  has 

361 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

America,  but  the  domestic  trade  of  both  of  them  combined  does  not  begin 
to  compare  with  that  of  the  United  States.  No  people  in  the  world  buy 
from  and  sell  to  one  another  such  prodigious  quantities  of  merchandise, 
deal  in  such  enormous  real  estate  values,  and  project  such  gigantic  financial 
enterprises  among  themselves  as  the  American  people,  and  without  their 
great  banking  power  they  could  not  do  this.  This  banking  power,  as  ex- 
pressed in  figures,  is  the  red  letter  index  to  our  great  volume  of  industrial 
and  commercial  transaction. 

This  is  not,  however,  an  index  to  the  whole  story,  for  there  are 
many  comparatively  small  transactions  and  trades  daily  in  which  banks  do 
not  figure.  There  are  now  $3,000,000,000  in  the  pockets  of  the  people 
outside  of  banks,  yet  every  bill  of  money  and  coin  bears  on  its  face  a 
part  of  the  country's  banking  power. 

There  were  at  the  beginning  of  1915,  28,746  banks.  Of  these  7,581 
were  national  banks,  with  $1 1,357,086,017  resources.  Bank  resources  are 
such  items  as  loans,  bank  deposits,  not  individual,  cash  on  hand,  secur- 
ties,  etc.  There  were  1,978  savings  banks  with  $4,513,427,930;  14,011 
State  banks  with  $4,143,052,802  resources;  1,515  loan  and  trust  com- 
panies with  $5,123,920,197  resources,  and  1,016  private  banks  having 
$183,765,398. 

The  national  banks  and  the  State  banks  and  trust  companies  have  been 
organized  and  welded  into  a  great  national  banking  system  under  the 
Federal  Reserve  Banking  Act.  Out  of  six  per  cent,  of  the  capital  of  all 
these  banks  have  been  created  twelve  Federal  District  Reserve  Banks  with 
a  capital  of  $225,000,000,  which  in  reality  is  a  great  central  bank.  As 
the  banking  power  of  the  American  people  grows  this  great  central  bank 
located  in  twelve  representative  financial  centers  will  grow  accordingly. 
It  will  in  time  become  the  greatest  financial  institution  in  the  world,  sur- 
passing the  Bank  of  England.  It  serves  the  banks  and  the  business  of 
the  country  just  as  the  heart  serves  the  human  body.  It  regulates  the 
circulation  of  money  by  making  the  great  banking  power  of  the  United 
States  react  readily  to  every  need  and  demand  of  industry  and  trade.  It 
breaks  up  an  overflow  of  money  in  New  York  and  carries  to  the  little 
country  towns  of  the  agricultural  West  and  South  the  cash  to  move  crop. 
Wherever  there  is  the  slightest  indication  of  a  panic,  it  is  immediately 
on  the  spot  with  a  huge  bag  of  gold  to  reassure  the  timid.  No  less  a 
financial  authority  than  the  late  Senator  Aldrich  said  that  if  the  United 
States  had  had  such  a  bank,  the  people  could  have  prevented  all  their 
terrific  panics,  which  is  equivalent  to  saying  that  there  will  be  no  panics 
hereafter.  "We  have  forever  scotched  the  snake  of  panic,"  declares  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury  McAdoo.  If  we  have,  the  banking  power  of  Amer- 

362 


GREAT  AMERICAN  BANKS 

ica  has  been  increased  a  hundred  fold,  for  America  in  its  unrivaled  progress 
and  sudden  swift  changes  has  long  been  a  land  of  tempestuous  money 
panics  at  too  frequent  intervals. 

There  is  now  no  great  institution  in  the  country  more  secure  than 
our  national  banks.  The  failure  of  a  national  bank  now  is  almost  un- 
heard of.  To-day  our  national  banking  system  is  even  more  honest  than 
the  highly  reputed  banks  of  China.  And  the  State  banks  and  trust  com- 
panies are  not  less  so.  Our  banking  system  has  become  a  pillar  of  financial 
honesty.  An  honest  bank  makes  trade  honest.  There  is  no  more  essential 
element  in  the  growth  of  America's  great  banking  power  than  this  honesty. 

Most,  if  not  all  the  State  banks  joining  the  Federal  Reserve  System 
are  becoming  national  banks ;  so,  too,  will  the  trust  companies,  and  within 
a  short  period  our  whole  banking  system  is  likely  to  become  national  in 
substance  and  scope,  even  including  our  savings  banks.  Every  bank  will 
then  have  the  power  of  the  nation  behind  it.  The  adoption  of  postal 
savings  banks,  which  are  as  yet  too  restrained  in  their  capacities  in  receiv- 
ing deposits,  is  in  the  direction  of  nationalizing  the  country's  great  bank- 
ing power.  A  bank  will  be  like  the  dollar  that  it  holds.  It  will  have 
the  stamp  of  the  nation  on  it.  Private  banks  are  on  the  decline  and  must 
go,  for  no  bank  can  live  in  a  highly  organized  commercial  nation  unless 
it  is  the  symbol  of  the  security  and  power  of  the  Government. 

There  is  now  in  the  United  States  a  bank  to  every  3,400  persons  or 
to  every  680  families.  In  the  New  England  States  there  is  a  bank  to 
every  6,1 17  persons;  in  the  Eastern  States,  including  New  York  and  Penn- 
sylvania, there  is  a  bank  to  every  7,618  persons;  in  the  South  a  bank  to 
every  4,567;  in  the  Middle  West,  a  bank  to  every  3,206  persons;  in  the 
Western  or  Rocky  Mountain  States  a  bank  to  every  1,564;  in  the  Pacific 
States,  a  bank  to  every  3,466,  and  in  the  Island  Possessions  a  bank  to 
every  39,147  persons.  The  average  bank  has  about  $1,000,000  of  assets; 
the  average  bank  in  New  England,  $2,719,000  of  assets;  the  average 
bank  in  the  Eastern  States  $3,520,000.  In  the  great  States  of  the  Mid- 
dle West  the  average  bank  has  $705,000,  or  one-fifth  as  much  as  in  the 
Eastern  States  and  one-fourth  as  much  as  in  New  England.  In  the  Pa- 
cific States  the  average  bank  has  $919,000.  The  average  bank  in  the 
South  has  $378,000  and  in  the  West  $227,000,  but  the  West  has  more 
small  banks  than  the  South.  Two-thirds  of  the  banking  power  and  money 
of  the  country  are  found  in  the  New  England  and  Eastern  States  with 
Illinois  thrown  in.  Consequently,  an  individual  in  the  South  or  West  with 
equally  good  security  finds  it  much  harder  to  borrow  money  than  his  more 
fortunate  fellow  individual  who  lives  in  the  East.  This  defect  the  Fed- 
eral Reserve  banks  seek  to  remove.  The  banking  power  of  New  York 

363 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

State  is,  in  round  numbers,  $14,000,000,000,  or  17  per  cent,  of  the  total 
of  all  the  banks  in  the  country.  Of  $173,765,528,000  bank  clearings  for 
the  whole  country  in  1913,  New  York's  share  was  $98,121,220,000.  Lon- 
don, long  the  commercial  capital  of  the  world,  has  never  shown  such  a  rec- 
ord, and  indeed  this  was  a  high  water  mark  for  New  York,  which  1915  is 
likely  to  surpass. 

The  great  problem  of  our  foreign  trade  especially  with  the  South 
American  countries  is  more  one  of  banks  than  it  is  of  ships  or  goods.  The 
Latin-Americans  trade  on  long  time  credits,  and  their  principal  security  is 
real  estate.  Only  branch  American  banks  established  in  these  countries 
can  handle  this  sort  of  business  with  intelligence  and  safety.  American 
banks  have  at  last  begun  to  meet  this  problem  by  establishing  branch  banks 
in  centers  like  Rio  Janeiro  and  Buenos  Aires.  Thus  the  great  banking 
power  has  begun  to  invade  the  world. 

The  most  interesting  human  feature  of  the  banks  of  the  United  States 
are  the  individual  depositors  and  their  desposits.  It  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  while  these  deposits  are  not  banking  resources  they  constitute 
banking  power  but  not  the  technical  power  of  the  banks  described  above. 
They  are  one  of  the  principal  liabilities  of  banks  and  the  power  of  the 
people  to  make  use  of  banks.  The  great  bulk  of  these  deposits  in  the 
national  banks  are  subject  to  check  and  are  not  really  savings,  but  they  give 
a  definite  focus  on  the  ever  driving  energy  and  enterprise  of  the  nation. 
These  individual  deposits  in  the  national  banks  represent  about  one-half 
of  all  the  deposits  in  the  other  banks,  and  in  1912  they  amounted  to  $5,- 
025,000,000  against  $11,198,000,000  held  by  all  the  other  banks.  In 
1914,  these  deposits  had  increased  in  round  numbers  to  $6,000,000,000. 
In  1865,  the  national  banks  had  only  $500,000,000.  In  1885,  they  had 
$1,111,000,000,  $1,720,000,000  in  1892,  $3,111,000,000  in  1902. 
From  1902  to  1914  they  had  nearly  doubled,  which  shows  that  individuals 
are  doing  twice  as  much  business  with  their  banks  as  they  did  twelve 
years  ago. 

It  is  the  record  of  the  savings  banks  deposits  to  which  the  political 
economist  turns  to  reckon  the  thrift  of  the  people.  In  the  great  industrial 
centers  they  are  the  true  gauge  of  this  thrift.  John  Stuart  Mill,  the 
high  priest  of  political  economy,  frequently  said  that  the  most  precious 
possession  a  people  can  have,  was  what  he  styled  "the  effective  desire  or 
instinct  of  accumulation."  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  great  agricultural 
communities  the  savings  bank  is  not  a  vault  under  lock  and  key,  but  it  con- 
sists of  broad  acres.  In  the  $41,000,000,000  of  farms  in  this  country  are 
deposited  most  of  the  savings  of  the  600,000  farmers  and  their  families. 

There  were  in  round  numbers  $5,000,000,000  of  deposits  in  the 

364 


TREASURY  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES — The  amount  of  money  in   circulation  in  the  United 
States    exceeds    $4,000,000,000 — The   total   wealth    exceeds    $150,000,000,000 —  The 
administration  of  government  costs  more  than  $1,000,000,000  a  year. 


GOVERNMENT  BUILDINGS  AT  NATIONAL  CAPITAL — This  magnificent  structure  is  occupied 

by  the  State  Department,  the  War  Department,  and  the  Navy  Department — 

It  is  here  that  our  international  relations  are  conducted. 


FAMOUS   UNIVERSITY    IN   AMERICA— Library    at   Columbia    University— The   University   was 
rounded  before  the  American   nation   as   King's   College,   under  Charter  granted 
by  George  II  in  1754 — It  has  nearly  lii.OOO  students. 


LARGEST  FREE  I'UI'.LIC  LIP.RARY  IN  THE  WORLD— This  magnificent  structure  is  the  New  York 

Public  Library — It  is  built  of  Vermont  marble,  with  a  capacity  of  about 

^,500,000  volumes.     It  seats  nearly  i>,000  readers. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  BANKS 

savings  banks,  the  money  of  10,400,000  depositors,  in  1914.  For  the  last 
five  years  this  army  of  depositors  has  been  recruited  on  an  average  of  225,- 
ooo  new  depositors  every  year.  Some  of  these  depositors  have,  of  course, 
a  deposit  to  their  credit  in  the  country's  savings  banks,  but  the  number  of 
depositors  is  growing  faster  in  proportion  than  the  population. 

The  distribution  of  these  depositors  over  the  country  and  the  growth 
and  average  amount  of  the  deposits  of  each  from  time  to  time,  as  com- 
pared with  similar  savings  bank  records  in  foreign  countries,  show  that,  al- 
though America  is  considered  by  foreigners  the  most  extravagant  of  na- 
tions, it  is  really  one  of  the  most  thrifty  of  nations.  If  the  total  amount 
deposited  in  our  savings  banks  had  been  equally  distributed  among  the 
population  of  the  country,  the  amount  to  each  person  in  1820  would  have 
been  $.12;  1830,  $.54;  in  1840,  $.82;  in  1850,  $1.87;  in  1860,  $4.75; 
in  1870,  $14.75;  in  1880,  $16.33;  m  1890,  $24.35;  m  1900,  $31.78;  in 
1910,  $45.05.  In  1915,  it  is  estimated  that  there  are  $50.00  in  the  sav- 
ings banks  to  every  person  in  the  country. 

The  individual  deposits  in  the  Pacific  States  are  larger  than  in  the 
New  England  or  Eastern  States,  but,  when  we  consider  the  average  per 
capita,  the  opposite  is  the  case.  In  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  the 
average  per  capita  amount  of  deposit  is  over  $250.00,  and  in  none  of  the 
New  England  States  does  it  fall  below  $100.  New  England  and  the  six 
Eastern  States  furnish  over  three-fourths  of  the  total  deposits  in  the  sav- 
ings banks  of  the  country.  The  magnitude  of  the  deposits  in  these  States 
becomes  more  apparent  when  we  realize  that  in  half  of  the  States  of  the 
country  the  per  capita  deposits  are  less  than  $5.00.  In  the  South  and  West 
farm  owners  put  their  earnings  in  farm  improvements  and  lands. 

France  has  been  proclaimed  as  the  nation  of  incarnate  thrift.  In 
1901  the  French  had  in  their  savings  banks  only  $22.75  Per  capita,  as  com- 
pared with  $31.78  per  capita  for  the  United  States,  but  the  French,  like 
many  Americans,  have  other  ways  of  saving  their  money.  In  1901  the 
English  had  in  their  savings  banks  $23.14.  In  Prussian  Germany  the  fig- 
ures were  $25.81 ;  in  Italy  $13.66;  Austria  had  $32.00.  Poverty-stricken 
Russia  had  jumped  from  $.04  in  three  decades  up  to  $3.27.  This  gain 
was  a  monument  to  the  late  Mr.  Witte,  who  largely  brought  it  about.  In 
1901  Canada  had  only  $14.00  per  capita  in  her  savings  banks.  Aus- 
tralia had  $23.00 ;  New  Zealand  had  $40.00.  But  Denmark  stood  at  the 
head  of  the  list  with  $76.00. 

But  it  should  be  finally  added,  in  making  any  sort  of  an  accurate  esti- 
mate of  the  thrift  of  the  United  States,  that  in  the  last  decade  the  Ameri- 
can people  have  invested  a  billion  dollars  in  new  issues  of  bonds  and  se- 
curities. 

367 


PART  IV  CHAPTER  XII 

GREAT  AMERICAN  NEWSPAPERS 


"Here  shall  the  Press  the  People's  right  maintain, 
Unawed  by  influence  and  unbribed  by  gain ; 
Here  patriot  Truth  her  glorious  precepts  draw, 
Pledged  to  Religion,  Liberty,  and  Law." 

— Story. 


THE  American  newspaper  is  to-day  one  of  our  greatest  institu- 
tions. It  stands  in  the  financial  ranks  with  banking,  railroad- 
ing, and  manufacturing.  Here  in  America  there  are  but  two 
estates — a  free  people  and  a  free  press — and  against  these  com- 
bined forces  no  human  power  can  exist.  "Four  hostile  newspapers,"  ex- 
claimed Napoleon,  "are  more  to  be  feared  than  a  thousand  bayonets." 
The  newspapers  stand  "between  the  governors  and  the  governed,  and  form 
the  single  organ  of  both." 

Modern  civilization  is  erected  on  the  power  of  public  print.  The 
modern  Atlas,  supporting  the  world  on  his  shoulders,  is  the  printing-press. 
It  is  the  printed  page  that  sustains  the  power  of  law,  that  supports  religion, 
that  makes  education  possible,  that  underwrites  all  the  trade  and  commerce 
of  the  earth. 

The  modern  American  newspaper  is  more  powerful  than  the  preach- 
ers ;  greater  than  the  political  bosses ;  it  is  the  main  strength  of  the  business 
world  and  the  people's  grand  jury  of  the  whole.  Newspapers  mold  opin- 
ion; they  preach  to  millions,  and  they  enlighten  and  guide  the  democratic 
multitude.  Without  them  liberty,  democracy,  and  self-government  would 
be  incomprehensible  and  therefore  impossible.  Every  historic  democracy 
before  our  own  perished  for  want  of  a  free  press;  our  newspapers  are  the 
very  life  breath  of  our  institutions.  They  are  the  very  atmosphere  of  our 
minds,  the  throb  of  our  great  common  heart.  They  are  what  we  are  and 
what  we  have  made  them.  Nothing  else  that  we  have  created  is  so  truly 
a  part  of  our  life  and  being  as  the  daily  and  weekly  records  of  our  history. 

To  have  a  correct  knowledge  of  human  affairs,  to  be  well  informed, 
it  is  necessary  to-day  to  read  the  current  daily  and  weekly  press.  Fully 
300,000  miles  of  ocean  cables  beneath  the  seven  seas,  wireless  telegraphy 
and  the  telephone,  with  a  dragnet  of  wires  over  this  continent,  bring  the 
important  events  and  affairs  of  the  world  daily  into  every  center  of  popu- 
lation through  the  printed  page  of  the  local  current  press.  It  correctly 
and  daily  interprets  the  amazing  age  of  scientific  progress  in  which  we 

368 


GREAT  AMERICAN  NEWSPAPERS 

live.     The  important  achievements  of  the  human  race  of  every  character 
are  expressed  in  the  most  engaging  and  attractive  form. 

The  four  cornerstones  in  the  building  of  our  national  structure  are 
the  schools  and  colleges,  churches  and  libraries,  but  the  current  press  of 
the  nation  rises  like  a  great  gilded  dome  toward  which  the  eyes  of  all 
our  people  are  turned  constantly.  It  is  conservatively  true  that  the  local 
newspaper  in  every  community  has  larger  influence  with  the  entire  popu- 
lation of  men,  women,  and  children  than  all  four  of  the  previously  men- 
tioned educational  institutions.  We  are  not  trying  to  draw  in  this  state- 
ment any  unfavorable  comparison  but  simply  stating  a  fact  that  has  ar- 
ranged its  own  conclusion.  To-day,  the  newspaper  seeks  every  person  upon 
the  street,  in  the  cars,  in  the  homes;  it  is  practically  everywhere  and  not 
to  be  avoided.  It  is  significant  that  the  non-progressive  countries  that 
have  slumbered  through  the  centuries  have  no  current  press.  They  can- 
not bring  about  a  world-wide  interchange  of  ideas  which  the  modern  press 
accomplishes  in  our  nation. 

There  are  about  28,000  publications  in  the  United  States  distributed 
through  our  forty-eight  States.  They  are  divided  among  daily  news- 
papers, weekly  newspapers,  monthly  periodicals  and  quarterlies,  scientific, 
religious,  and  trade  papers  relating  to  various  industries.  It  may  be  said 
to-day  that  any  man  can  sit  in  his  own  house  with  his  newspaper  and 
periodicals  before  him  and  truly  say,  "Old  Mother  Earth,  I  know  you." 
The  news  of  to-day  is  divided  into  two  classes;  general  informative  news 
and  business  news.  Our  great  commercial  enterprises  could  not  distribute 
their  commodities,  and  make  our  vast  population  acquainted  with  their 
value,  except  through  advertising  in  the  current  press.  To-day  business 
news  or  advertising  is  almost  as  important  to  our  general  population  as 
informative  news. 

Our  newspapers,  which  to-day  are  great  in  size,  great  in  energy  and 
enterprise,  swift  in  action  and  achievement,  the  mirror  of  the  greatest  free 
and  popular  movement  of  humanity  on  earth — had  the  most  humble  be- 
ginning. The  first  American  newspaper  was  the  Boston  News-Letter; 
its  first  real  news  was  the  execution  of  six  pirates  in  that  city  on  June 
3oth,  1704.  The  report  of  this  event  filled  nearly  half  the  little  sheet. 
Within  twenty  years,  four  more  little  sheets,  the  Gazette  and  Mercury 
in  Boston,  the  Mercury  in  Philadelphia,  and  the  Gazette  in  New  York, 
came  into  existence.  The  news  from  Europe  was  the  most  important  news. 
Scarcely  anything  that  took  place  in  this  country  got  into  print  in  the 
colonial  days.  A  month  was  then  relatively  longer  than  an  hour  now. 

During  Washington's  administration  the  Minerva  was  founded  in 
New  York  in  1793.  It  was  renamed  The  Commercial  Advertiser  in  1797, 

369 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

and  is  to-day  The  Globe — a  paper  that  always  has  shown  great  enterprise 
in  national  affairs. 

The  newspapers  later  fought  the  American  Revolution,  helped  mold 
the  Constitution,  directed  the  new  nation,  by  acting  as  the  link  that  united 
the  people  to  a  common  cause.  The  Courier  and  Inquirer,  of  New  York, 
and  its  rival,  the  Journal  of  Commerce,  organized  swift  news  schooners 
in  1830  to  meet  the  incoming  ships  one  hundred  miles  out.  Then,  some 
years  later,  the  Journal  of  Commerce  established  a  pony  express  between 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  later  extending  it  to  Washington,  and  by 
this  means  published  the  news  of  Congress  and  of  the  South  a  day  in  ad- 
vance of  its  competitor. 

The  definite  beginning  of  the  great  national  American  newspaper 
dates  from  about  1835.  I*  was  t^ien  t^iat  James  Gordon  Bennett,  the 
elder,  the  first  American  reporter,  published  the  New  York  Herald,  a 
penny  sheet,  from  a  cellar  in  Nassau  Street,  and  fairly  startled  the  staid, 
easy  going  world  of  that  day  with  the  clearly  stated,  outstanding  facts  in 
his  reports,  and  with  the  striking  headlines  of  the  printed  page.  News  at 
once  became  a  living  thing.  Bennett  created  the  interview. 

There  is  no  business  in  the  world  that  requires  such  enterprise,  such 
activity,  such  creative  power  and  ingenuity  as  the  making  of  a  newspaper. 
Bennett  was  longing  for  a  great  event  to  demonstrate  his  enterprise.  It 
came  in  1838;  the  little  steamer  Sirius,  the  first  regular  steamship  to  cross 
the  ocean  from  England  to  the  Untied  States  arrived  at  New  York. 
Like  the  true  newspaper  prophet  that  he  was,  he  took  passage  on  the 
steamer  on  its  return  to  Europe,  and  appointed  correspondents  in  London 
and  Paris  for  his  American  paper — this  is  the  beginning  of  the  foreign 
correspondent. 

But  Bennett's  departure  in  journalism  did  not  move  Boston  or  Phila- 
delphia to  imitate  it.  The  Boston  Daily  Journal  refused  to  send  a  re- 
porter to  Brighton  to  report  the  speech  of  Daniel  Webster,  the  most  im- 
portant piece  of  news  of  the  day.  Bennett  organized  a  long  distance  pony 
express  from  New  Orleans  to  New  York  in  1845  and  "beat"  the  Govern- 
ment so  badly  in  getting  news  of  the  Mexican  War,  that  the  Postmaster 
General  attempted  to  stop  the  enterprise. 

Then  came  the  telegraph — the  twin  brother  of  modern  journalism. 
Great  names  in  the  history  of  the  American  newspaper  now  began  to  loom 
upon  the  horizon.  It  is  a  galaxy  of  genius — master  minds,  statesmen 
of  the  public  print — Among  them  were  Bennett,  Bryant,  Greeley,  Ray- 
mond, Webb,  Reid,  Dana,  Godkin,  and  Pulitzer,  of  New  York;  Hale, 
Taylor,  and  others,  of  Boston;  Childs,  McClure  and  Smith,  of  Philadel- 
phia; Abel,  'of  Baltimore;  Bowles,  of  Springfield,  Massachusetts;  Medill, 

370 


WHERE  "THE  STAR-SPANGLED  BANNER"  WAS  WRITTEN— Fort  McHenry,  Baltimore,  Mary- 
land— It  was   here  that  Francis   Scott  Key  wrote  the  national   anthem   while 
detained  in  the  British  fleet  during  bombardment  of  this  fort  in  1814. 


CONQUEST  OF  THE  CONTINENT — This  photograph  is  taken  at  Battle  Hollow,  near  Victory, 

Wisconsin,  where  the  last  great  battle  of  the  Black  Hawk  War  was  fought  in  1832 — 

White  settlers  were  massacred  but  Black  Hawk  surrendered. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  NEWSPAPERS 

Nixon,  Stone,  and  Storey,  of  Chicago;  Halstead  and  McLean,  of  Cin- 
cinnati; Prentice  and  Watterson,  of  Louisville;  Cowles  and  Armstrong, 
of  Cleveland;  Locke  (Petroleum  V.  Nasby),  of  Toledo;  Belo,  of  Gal- 
veston;  Quinby,  of  Detroit;  Wheelock,  of  St.  Paul;  Jones,  Knapp,  and 
McCullough,  of  St.  Louis;  De  Young,  of  San  Francisco;  Grady,  of  At- 
lanta; Dawson,  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina — and  many  other  geniuses. 

The  American  Civil  War  was  fought  in  the  columns  of  the  news- 
papers; they  recruited  the  armies,  molded  the  political  opinion  and  action, 
brought  Lincoln  to  the  front  and  made  him  known  to  the  people.  The 
papers  became  vigorous  personal  organs.  The  editors  were  greater  than 
their  papers — they  were  nation-builders.  This  was  the  character  of  the 
American  newspaper  for  fifty  years.  Bennett  had  taught  the  world  the 
power  of  news;  Raymond,  and  Dana,  and  Medill,  and  others,  taught  re- 
porters how  to  write  news,  and  then  came  Joseph  Pulitzer  to  teach  the 
newspaper  how  to  make  news  a  necessary  commodity.  From  the  entry 
of  Pulitzer,  in  1885,  t^ie  American  newspaper  began  its  evolution  into 
a  great  impersonal  institution.  The  reporter  mounted  the  throne  of  the 
editor.  "Give  us  facts,"  cried  the  man  in  the  street,  "we  know  what  they 
mean."  The  news  columns  expanded  as  historical  records  to  cover  every 
phase  of  human  life — even  to  catch  the  immemorial  and  sacred  private 
life  of  men,  and  the  editorial  page  shrunk  accordingly — a  sure  sign  of 
democracy  spreading  and  growing.  The  people,  rather  than  the  editors 
were  now  making  the  newspaper.  The  masses,  the  men  in  the  street,  be- 
came news.  In  half  a  century,  the  value  of  facts  concerning  human  events, 
reported  simply  but  graphically,  increased  ten  thousand  per  cent.  With- 
out the  publication  of  such  facts  now,  the  Government  would  perish  and 
the  whole  social  fabric  collapse.  To-day,  men  must  know  ten  thousand 
times  more  about  what  one  another  is  doing  than  they  were  required  to 
know  a  century  ago.  The  telegraph,  the  telephone,  the  improvement  in 
the  printing  press,  the  invention  of  the  linotype,  and  the  typewriter,  and 
the  building  of  the  railroad,  brought  about  this  need — with  the  newspaper 
as  the  great  dynamic  power  behind  them.  The  need  of  general  information 
and  communication — an  instinct  developed  by  the  newspaper — urged  men 
to  invent  these  instruments  of  knowledge.  The  American  newspaper  is 
the  consummation  of  all  great  modern  inventions. 

Let  us  trace  briefly  the  great  newspapers  through  the  age  of  the  per- 
sonal editors  to  their  present  impersonal  status  where  their  names  conceal 
the  identity  of  armies  of  editors  and  writers — the  recorders  of  history. 

A  virile,  editorial  power  of  his  times  was  Nathan  Hale,  nephew  and 
namesake  of  the  glorious  "patriot  spy."  He  gave  to  the  Boston  Daily 
Advertiser,  the  first  daily  published,  a  character  for  excellence.  He  was 

373 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

a  strong  force  in  American  affairs  for  many  years,  writing  all  his  editorials 
and  stamping  into  every  sentence  and  phrase  his  robust  personality.  But 
he  did  more  for  the  American  newspaper  than  edit  it;  he  harnessed  its 
printing  to  steam,  adapted  the  stereotyping  process,  and  led  the  way  in 
many  other  improvements.  Rather  than  print  a  falsehood  in  his  paper, 
he  would  wait  to  verify  the  news.  Among  Hale's  distinguished  contribu- 
tors were  Edward  Everett,  Daniel  Webster,  Ticknor,  Prescott  and  the  poet 
Bryant. 

A  vigorous  name  in  the  history  of  American  newspapers  is  Samuel 
Bowles,  of  the  Springfield  Republican — one  of  its  greatest  exemplars  of 
American  journalism.  Every  youth  within  the  last  forty  years,  who  in- 
tended to  become  an  educated  newspaper  man,  was  advised  to  study  the 
career  and  the  writings  of  the  editor  of  the  Springfield  Republican,  which 
was  for  many  years  one  of  the  two  most  carefully  read  journals  in  all 
editorial  offices — the  other  being  the  New  York  Evening  Post.  The 
Republican  combined  the  excellences  of  both  the  American  and  the 
English  press. 

When  the  elder  Bennett  started  the  Herald,  one  of  the  men  he 
approached  with  an  offer  of  partnership  was  Horace  Greeley,  then  a  printer 
and  editor  of  the  New  Yorker.  Greeley,  on  learning  of  Bennett's  meager 
resources  (Bennett  had  only  $250  to  start  with)  refused.  Greeley  began 
the  publication  of  the  New  York  Tribune  in  1841,  which  aimed  at  the 
moulding  of  public  opinion  by  the  power  of  its  editorials.  The  Herald 
and  the  Commercial  Advertiser  had  formed  the  first  press  association,  and 
the  Tribune  was  the  first  "reformer"  in  American  journalism.  Greeley  not 
only  stoutly  advocated  in  his  editorials  abolition,  woman's  rights,  temper- 
ance, and  the  abolition  of  capital  punishment,  but  he  engaged  Margaret 
Fuller  to  investigate  the  condition  of  the  poor  in  New  York  City — the  first 
woman  reporter. 

Then  came  the  rugged  figure  of  Henry  J.  Raymond,  who  founded  the 
New  lYork  Times,  and  Charles  A.  Dana,  who  transformed  the  New 
York  Sun  into  a  great  newspaper.  Greeley  was  the  first  great  "leader" 
writer  in  American  journalism;  Raymond  was  one  of  the  best  equipped 
all-around  editors  of  any  time;  and  Dana  was  never  surpassed  for  his 
pungent,  exquisite  English  and  his  inimitable  art  of  statement.  The  elder 
Bennett,  Greeley  and  Raymond  passed  away ;  then  came  the  younger  Ben- 
nett, who  inherited  his  father's  enterprise — and  later  Pulitzer.  For  fifteen 
years  the  great  leaders  in  New  York  journalism  were  Dana,  Bennett  and 
Pulitzer.  Bennett  sent  Stanley  to  Africa;  Dana  became  a  political  power 
and  scourge  to  the  White  House;  and  there  was  not  a  week  that  Pulitzer 
did  not  box  the  compass  in  his  eternal  hunger  for  news. 

374 


GREAT  AMERICAN  NEWSPAPERS 

Great  editors  were  rising  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Philadelphia 
had  her  trio  of  newspaper  statesmen — A.  K.  McClure,  of  the  Philadelphia 
Times;  Charles  Emory  Smith,  of  the  Philadelphia  Press,  and  George 
W.  Childs  of  the  Ledger.  Childs  was  famous  for  his  philanthropies,  for 
his  fine  citizenship,  and  for  publishing  one  of  the  ablest  journals  in  the 
country.  McClure  had  been  an  intimate  of  Lincoln  and  was  an  ardent 
friend  of  the  impoverished  South.  He  never  failed  to  aid  that  section  in 
his  paper  all  through  the  doleful  years  when  traduction  prevailed.  Smith 
was  one  of  the  editorial  forces  of  the  Republican  party. 

One  of  the  strongest  factors  in  national  affairs  was  the  Chicago 
Tribune,  under  the  editorial  management  of  Joseph  Medill.  Medill  was 
one  of  the  strongest  personal  forces  in  journalism  this  country  has  ever 
produced.  There  was  no  great  venture  in  journalism,  no  redoubt  of  news 
worth  capturing,  that  the  Chicago  Tribune  and  its  editor  would  not  dare 
to  take.  But  the  Tribune's  neighbors,  the  Chicago  Inter  Ocean,  Times, 
News  and  Record-Herald  were  scarcely  less  enterprising.  The  iconoclastic 
daring  of  Chicago  journalism  even  startled  New  York  with  its  Pulitzers 
and  Hearsts.  Chicago  journalism,  like  the  city  itself,  has  long  been  one  of 
the  wonders  of  the  times. 

The  Middle  West  has  many  powerful  newspapers.  Detroit  has  long 
had  a  great  journal  in  the  Free  Press  on  which  "M.  Quad"  (Charles  B. 
Lewis)  made  his  reputation.  Cleveland  has  for  more  than  forty  years  had 
two  superb  papers  in  the  Leader  and  Plaindealer;  Toledo  in  the  same  state 
has  given  to  the  country  one  of  its  famous  journals,  the  Blade.  During 
the  war  no  man  read  more  carefully  the  letters  of  "Petroleum  V.  Nasby" 
than  did  Mr.  Lincoln.  In  reconstruction  days  Nasby's  pen  made  the 
Blade  sought  through  all  the  Central  West.  In  southern  Ohio,  Murat 
Halstead  in  Cincinnati  had  built  up  the  Commercial  Gazette  to  a  place, 
where  it  had  become  to  the  Republican  party  of  the  Central  West  a  power 
like  Greeley's  New  York  Tribune  in  the  East. 

As  we  enter  the  Southern  States,  we  find  in  Kentucky,  Colonel  Henry 
Watterson,  who  inherited  the  editorial  chair  of  George  D.  Prentice  on  the 
Louisville  Journal,  consolidated  it  with  the  Courier,  and  for  a  long  genera- 
tion has  stood  with  his  Courier-Journal  in  the  forefront  of  great  American 
newspapers.  Its  personal  power,  with  Colonel  Watterson  still  editing  it, 
even  survived  the  "golden  age"  of  impersonal  journalism.  Indeed,  Colonel 
Watterson  is  the  last  of  the  great  personal  journalists. 

St.  Louis  has  given  to  the  American  people  two  great  newspapers,  the 
Globe-Democrat  and  the  Republican.  The  Globe-Democrat,  a  radical 
Republican  paper,  became  a  virile  journalistic  force  in  the  Southwest  in 
the  later  seventies  and  eighties  under  the  direction  of  J.  B.  McCullaugh, 

375 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

who  in  defining  journalism  said  "it  is  that  thing  which  is  always  on  the  spot 
when  hell  breaks  loose."  Charles  W.  Knapp  made  the  Republic  what  it 
long  has  been,  the  great  political  rival  of  the  Globe-Democrat.  Kansas 
City  has  a  great  newspaper  in  the  Star. 

Passing  into  the  West,  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis  have  been  fortunate 
in  possessing  such  excellent  papers  as  the  Pioneer-Press  and  the  Sentinel. 
Denver  is  proud  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  News.  San  Francisco  was  noted 
as  far  back  as  twenty-five  years  ago  for  its  Chronicle,  Call,  and  Examiner. 
These  papers  have  long  kept  pace  with  the  great  Eastern  papers. 

The  Southern  States  have  stood  for  the  ablest  journalism.  After  the 
war,  Colonel  A.  H.  Belo  rode  all  the  way  on  horseback  from  Virginia  to 
Galveston,  Texas,  secured  control  of  the  News,  edited  it  for  nearly  thirty 
years,  and  made  it  the  great  paper  of  Texas.  Who  has  not  heard  of  the 
New  Orleans  Picayune?  For  twenty-five  years,  one  could  scarcely  read  a 
column  of  copied  paragraphs  in  any  paper  in  the  country  without  finding 
the  Picayune,  the  Detroit  Free  Press,  the  Toledo  Blade  and  the  Yonkers 
Statesman  quoted.  But  New  Orleans  has  long  had  another  famous  paper, 
the  Times-Democrat.  Memphis  has  its  Appeal.  Atlanta  has  its  Consti- 
tution, the  paper  through  which  Henry  W.  Grady  made  the  "New  South" 
conscious  of  itself  and  of  its  great  future.  Atlanta  journalism  is  in  its  way 
as  wonderful  as  Chicago  journalism.  There  is  nothing  in  its  sphere  too 
great  for  it  to  attempt,  and  this  has  been  true  ever  since  Grady  inspired  the 
Constitution.  In  the  News  and  Courier,  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  has 
for  over  a  half  century  had  a  potent  moulder  of  Southern  opinion.  In  the 
reconstruction  days,  and  after  when  Colonel  F.  W.  Dawson  edited  the 
News  and  Courier,  the  whole  nation  watched  for  its  utterances.  Balti- 
more, in  the  Sun  and  the  American,  has  stood  in  the  foreranks  in  the  proces- 
sion of  journalism. 

The  last  two  decades  in  American  journalism  have  witnessed  the  rise 
of  the  two  modern  factors  in  journalism — Pulitzer  and  Hearst,  moulders 
and  formers  of  a  new  style  of  journalism  which  has  injected  itself  more  or 
less  into  every  community.  Pulitzer  was  a  foreign  element,  an  importa- 
tion. He  was  unquestionably  the  great  factor  of  modern  journalism. 
These  two  men  introduced  the  progressive  features  of  modern  journalism, 
magazines,  comics,  political  cartoon,  human  interest  articles,  etc.  Previous 
to  them,  the  newspaper  was  a  chronicler  and  purveyor  of  news,  stated  in  a 
comparatively  conservative  and  prosaic  style.  They  introduced  the  snap 
and  sparkle  into  up-to-date  journalism  and  have  demonstrated  that  while 
the  newspaper  primarily  is  a  purveyor  of  news,  to  fulfill  its  proper  func- 
tions in  any  community,  it  is  also  a  teacher,  a  preacher  and  a  servant  to  the 
interests  of  the  people. 

376 


GREAT  AMF.UU'AN   INVENTIONS — Alexander  Graham  Roll,  inventor  of  the  telephone,  openinj 

first  long  distance  line  between  New  York  and  Chicago  in  1892 — Human  voice  first 

spoke  across  continent  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco  in  1915. 


FAMOUS   ASSEMBLAGE   GREETING    BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN— A mong   those   present  on   this    historic  occa 
sion  were  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,   Edmund  Burke,  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  Dr   Priest- 
ley, and  ladies  of  the  nobility — This  rare    engraving    was    mado    in    1839. 


FIRST    AMERICAN    STATESMAN   TO   APPEAR    BEFORE  BRITISH  LORDS— This  historic  engraving  shows 

Benjamin  Franklin  as  he  stood  before  the  lords  in  council  at  Whitehall  Chapel  in  London  in 

1774 — Franklin    is    presenting   the  American  cause  to  the  mother  country. 


ttw 

=  a 


Xa 


GREAT  AMERICAN  NEWSPAPERS 

We  have  considered,  in  the  foregoing  list,  some  of  the  representative 
American  newspapers.  But  nearly  every  city  in  the  country,  even  rank- 
ing as  low  down  as  25,000  inhabitants,  has  had  for  many  years  one  or  more 
first  class  newspapers.  All  the  papers  mentioned  above  have  progressed 
from  "personal  journalism"  to  the  "new  journalism"  and  are  more  power- 
ful to-day  than  ever  before.  From  personal  organs,  they  have  become  great 
financial  enterprises.  Their  capital  has  been  increased  from  ten  to  a 
hundred  fold  within  the  last  twenty  years.  These  solid  papers  are  estab- 
lished on  as  firm  a  foundation  now  as  the  great  banks,  the  big  factories, 
and  the  giant  corporations  of  the  country.  Journalism  has  been  organized 
as  a  science,  an  art,  and  a  business.  The  collection  and  purveyance  of 
news  by  these  institutions,  with  their  press  association  and  other  vast  facili- 
ties, are  worked  out  on  the  scale  of  governments  and  nations. 

And  the  greater  the  American  newspaper  grows,  the  clearer  stands  out 
this  fact,  that  this  country,  with  its  vast  area  and  broad  democracy,  can 
never  have  one  paramount  national  newspaper  as  the  London  Times  was 
for  so  long  a  time  in  England.  Every  city  and  section  will  have  its  great 
newspapers,  but  even  New  York,  with  its  gigantic  financial  power  and  influ- 
ence, cannot  control  the  fields  in  Boston,  or  Philadelphia,  or  Washington. 
This  fact  keeps  the  journalism  of  the  country  on  an  even  keel  and  standard- 
izes the  news  of  the  nation.  If  any  city  has  no  strong  newspaper  to-day, 
it  is  largely  its  own  fault  and  not  due  to  the  competition  of  another  city. 
There  are  few  exceptions  in  the  comparatively  small  cities  within  the  radius 
of  Chicago,  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Atlanta,  New  Or- 
leans, and  San  Francisco.  But  there  can  be  no  great  national  newspaper 
in  this  country,  no  more  than  there  can  be  a  great  national  city  which 
controls  all  other  cities.  Each  newspaper  performs  its  own  important 
duties  in  its  own  field. 

As  the  national  and  the  state  news  have  been  standardized  in  its  col- 
lection and  purveyance,  a  newspaper  in  one  city  differs  from  that  in  other 
cities  only  in  its  local  character.  Without  this  emphasis  on  local  news, 
local  self-government  would  not  be  possible.  One  of  the  greatest  services 
of  the  American  newspapers  has  been  their  work  for  municipal  reform 
within  the  last  twenty  years. 

There  is  one  more  point,  among  the  multitude  that  might  be  cited  in 
weighing  the  value  of  the  American  newspaper — it  is  its  economic  value. 
The  whole  modern  mercantile  world  is  being  built  upon  the  newspaper, 
and  its  prosperity  depends  upon  the  newspaper.  The  public  press  stands 
like  the  telephone  and  the  telegraph,  it  is  the  message-bearer  between  the 
separated  parties  at  each  end  of  the  line — it  brings  them  together  and  into 
communication  and  agreement.  Its  advertising  columns  are  the  links  be- 

381 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

tween  the  selling  world  and  the  buying  world — one  of  the  most  important 
economic  links  in  our  whole  system  of  civilization.  The  newspaper,  there- 
fore, is  not  only  the  power  that  unites  the  peoples  of  the  earth  under  a 
common  intelligence — the  greatest  democratizer  in  the  world ;  it  is  the  key- 
stone of  our  political  institutions,  the  foundation  of  our  civic  and  social 
structure;  the  champion  of  law  and  ethics;  the  supreme  court  of  public 
opinion.  It  is  all  these,  and  much  more — it  is  the  Ambassador  of  the  Busi- 
ness World. 


882 


PART  V  CHAETER  XIII 


GREAT  AMERICAN  STATESMEN 


"Let  the  bugles  sound  the  Truce  of  God  to  the  whole  world  forever." 

— Charles  Swnner. 


*4  V    ^m  EACE  rules  the  day,  where  reason  rules  the  mind" — this  truism, 
B   J   or  altruism,  is  the  basis  of  American  statesmanship.     And  yet 
the  true  statesman  realizes  that  reason  unfortunately  does  not 
-*•          always  "rule  the  mind"  and  therefore  peace  does  not  always 
"rule  the  day."     "We  love  peace,"  said  Jerrold,  "as  we  abhor  pusillanim- 
ity; but  not  peace  at  any  price.     There  is  a  peace  more  destructive  of  the 
manhood  of  living  man  than  war  is  destructive  of  his  material  body. 
Chains  are  worse  than  bayonets." 

True  statesmanship  is  not  the  art  of  diplomatic  strategy,  or  political 
intrigue,  or  secret  machinations  and  agreements;  it  knows  neither  cunning, 
wit,  nor  power  of  personal  persuasion.  It  is  first,  last,  and  all  the  time  de- 
fending the  principles  for  which  a  nation  stands  and,  by  the  power  of  right 
and  justice  inherent  in  those  principles,  bringing  them  to  a  peaceful  tri- 
umph over  all  opposition  by  the  force  of  their  own  truth.  Statesmanship 
is  justice  prevailing  over  injustice,  right  over  wrong;  it  is  the  essence  of 
absolute  fairness  among  men  and  nations.  Pope  in  his  moral  essays  speaks 
of  a  statesman  as: 

"Statesman,  yet  friend  to  Truth,  of  soul  sincere, 
In  action  faithful  and  in  honour  clear; 
Who  broke  no  promise,  serv'd  no  private  end, 
Who  gain'd  no  title,  and  who  lost  no  friend." 

Burke,  in  his  "Reflections  on  the  Revolution  in  France,"  defines  states- 
manship as  "a  disposition  to  preserve,  and  an  ability  to  improve,  taken  to- 
gether, would  be  my  standard  of  a  statesman." 

Here  in  America  we  have  developed,  if  unselfishness,  world-vision, 
and  nobility  of  purpose  are  any  criterion — a  new  type  of  statesmen  pledged 
to  the  immortal  doctrine  of  Lincoln  "that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall 
have  a  new  birth  of  freedom;  and  that  the  government  of  the  people,  by 
the  people,  and  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth."  Let  us 
measure  some  of  our  statesmen  by  this  high  standard. 

Personal  or  party  preferences  may  influence  us  in  our  estimates  of 
the  services  rendered  to  this  country  by  the  various  statesmen  who  have 

383 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

guided  its  destinies.  On  one  point,  however,  we  are  all  agreed — their 
attainments  in  statesmanship  were  the  result  of  their  own  individual  ex- 
ertions and  force  of  character  rather  than  of  fortunate  circumstances.  Suc- 
cess of  achievement  was  invariably  the  result  of  nobility  of  aim. 

An  ardent  love  of  liberty  characterized  the  earliest  colonial  statesmen: 
John  Winthrop,  Roger  Williams,  William  Penn.  The  free  spirit  that  was 
to  detach  the  colonies  from  the  mother  country  is  well  reflected  in  Penn's 
famous  statement:  "Liberty  without  obedience  is  confusion  and  obedience 
without  liberty  is  slavery." 

The  first  statesman  to  see  the  advantages  of  American  independence 
from  Great  Britain  was  Samuel  Adams  (1722-1803),  who  has  been  called 
the  "Father  of  the  American  Revolution."  When  he  took  his  master's 
degree  at  Harvard  College,  in  1743,  he  declared  in  his  oration  that  "it  is 
lawful  to  resist  the  supreme  magistrate  if  the  commonwealth  cannot  other- 
wise be  preserved." 

The  first  great  American  statesman  of  world  renown,  however,  is 
Washington  (1732-1799),  a  man  whom  his  countrymen  offered  to  make 
a  king,  but  who  was  to  carry  out  that  proposition  in  freedom.  Physically 
and  mentally,  he  was  fit  to  become  the  "Father  of  his  country,"  embody- 
ing as  he  did  every  ideal  of  manhood.  Over  six  feet  in  height,  robust 
and  perfectly  erect,  solid  rather  than  brilliant,  and  endowed  with  more 
judgment  than  genius,  he  carefully  weighed  his  decisions;  but  his  policy 
once  settled  was  pursued  with  steadiness  and  dignity,  however  great  the 
opposition.  A  firm  advocate  of  free  institutions,  he  believed  in  a  strong 
government  and  rigidly  enforced  laws.  As  an  officer,  he  was  brave,  en- 
terprising, and  cautious.  He  showed  in  his  campaigns  the  qualities  that 
made  him  a  great  statesman.  His  tactics  were  always  judicious.  As  Lord 
Brougham  said :  "Until  time  shall  be  no  more,  a  test  of  the  progress  which 
our  race  has  made  in  wisdom  and  virtue  will  be  derived  from  the  veneration 
paid  the  immortal  name  of  Washington." 

The  American  nation  had  a  hard  struggle  for  existence.  The  theory 
of  self-government  was  an  experiment.  The  new  republic  was  threatened 
with  bankruptcy.  European  powers  were  taking  full  advantage  of  the 
conditions.  In  a  brief  time  900  ships  had  been  seized  by  the  British  and 
550  by  the  French.  While  President  Madison  insisted  on  temporizing, 
the  Speaker  of  the  House,  Henry  Clay  (1777-1852),  waged  a  strong 
fight  to  defend  the  honor  of  the  country.  All  the  committees  of  the  house 
were  placed  under  the  control  of  the  war  party.  The  results  of  the  War 
of  1812  justified  Clay's  attitude.  "Let  any  man,"  he  said,  "look  at  the 
degraded  condition  of  his  country  before  the  war,  the  scorn  of  the  universe, 
the  contempt  of  ourselves,  and  tell  me  if  we  have  gained  nothing  by  war. 

384 


'GIVE    ME    LIBERTY    OR    fJIVE    ME    DEATH"— Patrick    Henry    delivering _his    epoch-making 

oration  before  the  Convention  in   Richmond,  Va.,   on  March   23,   1775 — The 

firebrand  that  ignited  the  spirit  of  Revolution. 


END   OF   THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION — This    engraving   shows    Washington    resigning    his 

commission  as  Commander-in-chief  of  the  American  army  at  Annapolis, 

December  '2',',,  178:!— He  had  led  his  people  to  independence. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  STATESMEN 

What  is  our  situation  now?  Responsibility,  and  character  abroad,  security 
and  confidence  at  home." 

This  was  Henry  Clay — a  statesman.  Through  his  strenuous  and  pic- 
turesque career,  Clay,  who  had  been  called  a  Southern  man  with  Northern 
ideals,  never  forgot  the  distressed  and  oppressed  of  this  and  other  lands. 
His  sympathies  went  out  not  only  to  the  Latin-American  republics,  but 
to  Greece,  to  Hungary,  and  to  the  enslaved  Africans  of  our  own  country. 
Many  a  time  he  offered  to  free  his  slaves  provided  some  one  guaranteed 
their  maintenance.  At  his  death,  Lincoln  pronounced  his  eulogy. 

The  "great  expounder  of  the  constitution"  was  Daniel  Webster 
(1782-1852).  He  is  still  discussed  by  historians.  Was  his  attitude  to- 
ward the  tariff  statesmanlike?  His  enemies  point  out  that  he  changed 
sides  on  that  question.  His  friends  remark  that  New  England  was  not 
in  favor  of  a  protective  tariff  in  1826  but  was  in  favor  of  it  two  years 
later.  His  enemies  declare  that  he  sacrificed  principle  for  personal  ex- 
pediency when  the  slavery  compromise  of  1850  came  up  for  discussion. 
No  man  had  denounced  slavery  more  bitterly  than  he  did,  but  he  was 
willing  to  support  the  Fugitive  Law  and  to  leave  the  question  of  slavery 
in  the  new  Territories  to  the  laws  of  nature.  His  friends  and  enemies 
alike,  however,  agree  that  he  was  honest.  He  died  very  poor  and  deeply 
in  debt.  A  lawyer  and  orator  of  genius,  a  great  power  in  the  land,  a  de- 
fender of  the  nationality  of  the  States,  he  was  all  his  life  unalterably  de- 
voted to  the  perpetuity  and  integrity  of  the  Union. 

The  third  brilliant  star  that  shone  in  the  political  sky  of  the  Amer- 
ican republic  during  the  first  half  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  was  John  C. 
Calhoun  (1782-1850).  A  Southerner  born  and  bred,  his  logic  was  con- 
vincing, his  reasoning  implacable,  his  intellect  calm.  The  fire  of  his 
genius  burnt  itself  out  in  a  defense  of  the  institution  of  State  rights, 
and  he  died  just  as  the  cause  to  which  he  had  devoted  his  life  was  on  the 
point  of  decision.  An  ardent  patriot,  he  did  more  than  any  other  man  to 
bring  about  the  annexation  of  Texas  and,  although  a  great  pacifist,  he 
sounded  the  clarion  call  when  the  country  was  in  danger  of  aggression  at 
the  hands  of  England  and  France.  He  was  an  ardent  supporter  of  the 
policy  of  internal  improvements.  He  projected  national  roads,  a  system 
of  inland  navigation  destined  to  foster  commercial  relations  between  the 
various  parts  of  the  country.  A  fervent  advocate  of  State  rights,  he  earned 
the  name  of  the  Great  Nullifier.  Though  he  had  ambitious  dreams,  his 
course  was  singularly  free  from  even  the  appearance  of  self-seeking.  And 
no  breath  of  slander  ever  stained  his  name.  The  great  system  of  national 
transportation  which  Calhoun  had  planned  was  to  be  realized — but  in  a 
way  that  Calhoun  had  little  dreamt.  Instead  of  roads  and  canals,  rail- 

887 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  .WE  LOVE 

roads  were  to  unite  North  and  South,  East  and  West,  and  open  that 
hitherto  mysterious  land  lying  beyond  the  Mississippi  which  until  then  had 
only  been  "The  West." 

The  first  great  statesman  for  American  expansion  was  Thomas  H. 
Benton  (1782-1858).  He  devoted  the  thirty  years  of  his  parliamentary 
activity  to  a  strenuous  fight  for  railroad  construction  and  development. 
His  efforts  finally  culminated  in  the  building  of  the  great  Central  Pacific 
Railroad.  Born  in  North  Carolina,  Benton  was,  however,  a  typical  West- 
erner of  the  aggressive,  alert,  self -asserting  kind.  He  had  no  sectional 
prejudice  and  did  his  best  to  develop  every  part  of  the  country  without 
showing  any  partiality.  A  great  railroadman  by  vocation,  he  put  him- 
self on  record  in  many  other  directions.  He  combated  fiercely  the  spoils 
system  introduced  in  American  politics,  and  it  was  the  boast  of  his  life 
that  none  of  his  blood-relations  had  ever  asked  for  office.  Although 
a  slave-holder  from  a  slave  State,  Benton  allied  himself  with  the  Union 
and  opposed  Calhoun's  plan  of  nullification.  His  love  of  freedom  and 
independence  caused  him  also  to  support  Jackson  in  the  fight  against  the 
rechartering  of  the  United  States  Bank.  He  felt  that  such  an  institution 
would  eventually  wield  too  great  an  influence  upon  the  people  and  the 
government  of  the  States.  His  heroic  attitude  cost  him  his  seat  in  the 
Senate  and  later  his  seat  in  the  House.  He  then  retired  from  public  life 
and  undertook  his  work,  "Thirty  Years'  View,"  one  of  the  greatest  records 
of  political  life  in  America. 

Typical  of  the  romantic  days  in  politics,  when  great  events  crowded 
upon  one  another,  is  the  life  story  of  William  H.  Seward  (1801-1872). 
Running  away  from  home  at  seventeen,  and  being  a  few  years  later  ap- 
pointed principal  of  Union  College  at  Eatonton,  Georgia,  is  an  extraor- 
dinary debut  for  a  young  man.  He  was  not  destined  to  become  an  edu- 
cator, however.  At  thirty-three,  we  find  him  almost  elected  to  the  gov- 
ernorship of  New  York  State.  Four  years  later  he  carried  the  election. 
During  his  governorship,  many  wise  measures  were  introduced.  Impris- 
onment for  debt  was  abolished,  the  cause  of  general  education  was  ad- 
vanced, internal  improvements  were  made,  and  foreign  immigration  fos- 
tered. A  rival  of  Lincoln  and  then  a  member  of  his  cabinet,  he  fought 
bravely  for  the  abolition  of  slavery;  a  deep  friendship  united  the  former 
rivals  and  only  a  mere  hazard  saved  Seward  from  sharing  the  fate  of  the 
martyr  President.  An  important  incident  of  Seward's  career  was  the  pur- 
chase of  Alaska  from  Russia  by  the  United  States  Government — a  trans- 
action that  he  conducted  with  great  skill  and  ability. 

We  now  stand  face  to  face  with  democracy's  greatest  champion — 
humanity's  statesman — Abraham  Lincoln  (1809-1865) — a  man  who  was 

388 


GREAT  AMERICAN  STATESMEN 

much  more  than  a  statesman,  who  was  a  giant  in  every  way,  physically, 
mentally,  spiritually.  To  recount  his  achievements  or  even  barely  to  enu- 
merate the  problems  which  he  mastered  during  his  Presidency  would  fill 
volumes.  We  prefer  to  present  him  in  this  short  sketch  as  a  typical 
product  of  the  heroic  times  in  which  the  republic  was  struggling  to  as- 
sume shape,  consistency,  and  permanency.  The  son  of  New  Englanders, 
who  migrated  from  the  Atlantic  coast  to  Kentucky,  thence  to  Indiana  and 
finally  to  Illinois,  Lincoln  led  first  the  rough  and  ready  life  of  a  fron- 
tiersman. He  chopped  wood,  and  split  rails,  and  did  carpenter  work. 
He  went  to  school  not  more  than  a  year  in  his  entire  life.  But  he  read 
every  book  and  newspaper  available,  and  everything  he  read  he  made  his 
own.  Whatever  he  undertook,  he  mastered.  Storekeeper,  postmaster, 
land  surveyor,  lawyer — he  studied  in  actual  practise  all  the  economic,  po- 
litical, and  human  problems  which  he  had  to  solve  late  in  life.  His  kind 
nature,  his  broad  mind,  his  inexhaustible  wit,  together  with  his  strange 
physical  appearance,  have  made  of  him  a  fascinating  figure — perhaps  even 
more  attractive  to  the  American  people  than  that  of  Washington.  With 
all  his  sterling  qualities,  Washington  was  to  a  certain  extent  tinged  with 
aristocratic  tendencies  after  the  English  heart,  but  Lincoln,  the  rough 
Kentucky  boy,  was  in  the  noblest  sense  of  the  word  a  self-made  man — 
the  greatest  claim  to  the  admiration  of  a  manly,  vigorous  race.  Lincoln 
stands  before  the  world  as  "the  Great  Emancipator";  his  great  humane 
policies  during  the  American  Civil  War,  his  speeches  which  embody  the 
whole  spirit  of  a  free  people,  make  Lincoln  without  peer  the  greatest  ex- 
ponent of  democracy  in  the  world's  history. 

American  party  politics  and  diplomacy  bring  forth  many  strong  fig- 
ures but  it  is  our  purpose  here  only  to  sketch  a  few  whose  human  qual- 
ities were  preeminent.  There  was  Samuel  J.  Tilden  (1814-1886) — at 
eighteen  years  of  age  he  made  just  one  address  to  the  people  of  New  York 
State  that  undermined  one  of  the  most  powerful  party  coalitions  in  his- 
tory. His  address  prevented  the  Anti-Jackson  men  and  the  Anti-Masons 
from  carrying  the  State  in  1832.  Years  later,  he  was  to  break  up  the  ring 
which  under  the  leadership  of  William  M.  Tweed  ruled  New  York  City 
from  1869  to  1871.  As  Governor  of  New  York  State,  one  of  his  first 
acts  was  to  attack  the  so-called  "Canal  Ring"  which  was  robbing  the  State 
and  preying  upon  internal  commerce. 

Statesmanship  found  a  stalwart  champion  in  James  G.  Blaine  (1830- 
1893),  Secretary  of  State  under  Presidents  Garfield  and  Harrison.  Amer- 
ica is  indebted  to  him  for  initiating  the  movement  which  is  knitting  more 
and  more  closely  together  all  the  Americans.  Forty  years  ago,  when  this 
country  was  totally  indifferent  to  the  opportunities  of  Latin  American 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

commerce,  Elaine  advocated  the  payment  of  subsidies  to  steamship  lines 
plying  between  the  ports  of  the  United  States  and  those  of  Central  and 
South  America.  He  showed  how  the  great  trade  of  those  countries  went 
to  Europe  instead  of  coming  to  the  United  States  and  organized  the  first 
Pan-American  Congress  which  has  cemented  the  relations  of  the  republics 
on  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

One  of  the  most  admirable  figures  in  all  the  history  of  American 
statesmanship  was  John  Hay  (1838-1905).  He  distinguished  himself  in 
four  great  spheres  of  action — in  journalism,  in  literature,  in  diplomacy, 
and  in  administrative  statecraft.  He  was  one  of  America's  greatest  edi- 
tors, justly  entitled  to  a  place  with  Greeley  and  Dana  and  Raymond. 
As  the  author  of  the  "Pike  County  Ballads,"  he  stands  with  Lowell.  At 
the  court  of  St.  James,  he  forever  clinched  the  friendship  between  England 
and  America  and  rendered  to  both  countries  a  service  only  second  to  that 
of  Charles  Francis  Adams  during  our  Civil  War.  As  Secretary  of  State 
he  easily  won  from  England,  through  his  great  skill,  the  Hay-Pauncefote 
Treaty,  which  gave  America  the  right  unmolested  to  build  and  own  the 
Panama  Canal.  He  also  won  for  America  and  for  the  Chinese  the  open 
door  in  China.  But  Hay  was  born  to  inherit  a  great  opportunity.  He 
came  to  be  at  Lincoln's  elbow  and  to  hear  the  whisper  of  his  great  soul  in 
the  country's  darkest  hour.  Hay  had  his  Lincoln,  but  it  should  be  recorded 
that  Lincoln  had  his  Hay  and  we  should  never  know  Lincoln  as  we  do 
without  this  gifted  secretary.  From  Hay's  diaries  and  other  papers  pub- 
lished after  his  death,  it  is  easy  to  follow  the  work  of  his  hand  in  the  Lin- 
coln administration.  Hay  was  not  only  a  wise  statesman  but  a  man  of 
great  nobility  of  character  and  personal  attractiveness. 

These  incidents  in  the  lives  of  American  statesmen  might  be  enu- 
merated indefinitely,  while  the  achievements  of  the  great  diplomatists 
present  the  large  phases  of  world  statesmanship,  but  it  is  sufficient  to  state 
here  that  each  generation — every  session  of  the  United  States  Senate,  every 
political  administration  develops  "a  man  of  the  hour." 

American  statesmanship  is,  and  will  forever  remain,  the  foe  to  but 
one  thing — that  is,  injustice.  It  is  and  forever  must  be  working  for  but 
one  purpose — that  is,  humanity.  In  the  words  of  John  Quincy  Adams : 

"This  hand,  to  tyrants  ever  sworn  the  foe, 
For  Freedom  only  deals  the  deathly  blow ; 
Then  sheathes  in  calm  repose  the  vengeful  blade, 
For  gentle  peace  in  Freedom's  hallowed  shade." 


890 


ANIKRI(-AX  REVOLUnON-Thfc  momornblo 


Of7B  -NK^R  n 

*     «     i     '   IZ75T~SS 

fortifying  the  heights  of  ornng        e 

advanced  with  terrific  flre  and  were  twice  repulsed  in  disorder—  The  Americans 

exhausted    their    ammunition    and    were    forced    to    retreat  —  General 

Warren,  fell,  shot  through  the  head  with  a  bullet. 


was  enacted 


is,1?'  1II1(ll'r  (5«'»«'™l  Gage,  occupied  Boston—  The  Americans  were 
Charleston—  About  2:80  o'clock   in  the  morning    the   British 


PART  V  CHAPTER  XIV 

GREAT  AMERICAN  SOLDIERS 


"The  hero  is  the  world-man,  in  whose  heart 
One  passion  stands  for  all,  the  most  indulged." 
—Bailey:  "Festus." 


1 


soldier  is  and  ever  will  be  a  mighty  man;  because  he  places 
above  self  the  honor  and  integrity  of  his  country.     His  willing- 
ness to  sacrifice  his  life  for  a  cause  or  a  principle  is  one  of  the 
noblest  expressions  of  human  love.     The  lines  from  Niles,  in 
his  poem  "The  American  Hero,"  give  this  valuation: 

"Life,  for  my  country  and  the  cause  of  freedom, 
Is  but  a  trifle  for  a  worm  to  part  with ; 
And,  if  preserved  in  so  great  a  contest, 
Life  is  redoubled." 

The  trade  of  soldier  is  one  of  the  great  evolutionary  steps  in  human 
society.  To  him  we  owe  not  only  the  defense  of  our  lives,  our  rights,  and 
our  property,  but  the  human  liberties  that  we  now  enjoy.  The  security 
with  which  we  now  live  and  move  and  have  our  being  is  due  largely  to  the 
soldier;  he  fought  and  conquered  the  primitive  instincts  and  primeval  dan- 
gers; he  protected  and  defended  with  his  life  the  communities  of  interest 
that  were  nurtured  into  national  ideals;  and  he  has  maintained  these  groups 
against  extermination  by  other  groups  with  his  own  valor  and  his  own 
blood.  Wordsworth  paid  the  soldier  this  tribute: 

"Doomed  to  go  in  company  with  pain, 
And  fear,  and  bloodshed,  miserable  train. 
Turns  his  necessity  to  glorious  gain; 
In  face  of  these  doth  exercise  a  power 
Which  is  our  human  nature's  highest  dower." 

With  the  coming  of  what  we  herald  as  the  "war-less  age" — an  age 
when  there  shall  be  neither  wars  nor  need  for  wars — the  duty  of  the  sol- 
dier should  pass,  but  his  deeds  of  valor  will  never  dim.  "Hero  worship 
exists,"  said  Carlyle,  "has  existed,  and  will  forever  exist,  universally  among 
mankind."  A  thousand  years  after  the  last  bugle  of  war  may  have 
sounded,  the  laurels  will  still  be  laid  on  the  soldier's  grave — even  though 
we  shall  have  discovered  in  those  days  with  Whittier  that  "peace  hath 
higher  tests  of  manhood  than  battle  ever  knew." 

Napoleon,  in  speaking  of  the  science  of  strategy,  said:  "The  pres- 
ence of  a  general  is  indispensable.  He  is  the  head,  the  entire  army.  It 

393 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

was  not  the  Roman  army  which  conquered  Gaul,  but  Caesar ;  it  was  not  the 
Carthaginian  army  which  made  the  republic  tremble  at  the  gates  of  Rome, 
but  Hannibal ;  it  was  not  the  Macedonian  army  which  was  upon  the  Indus, 
but  Alexander;  it  was  not  the  French  army  which  carried  war  on  the  Weser 
and  the  Inn,  but  Turenne;  it  was  not  the  Prussian  army  which  for  seven 
years  defended  Prussia  against  the  greatest  powers  of  Europe,  but  Frederick 
the  Great." 

This  continent  had  produced  great  soldiers  before  the  American  Revo- 
lution, but  they  were  then  either  English  or  French.  It  was  only  after 
Lexington  and  Concord  that  we  can  speak  of  American  soldiers.  The 
first  great  American  soldier  is  Washington,  the  Virginian.  Twenty  days 
after  the  actual  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  he  was  appointed  Comman- 
der-in-Chief  of  the  Continental  Army.  Washington  had  in  the  course  of 
the  French  and  Indian  wars  earned  the  reputation  of  a  successful  military 
man.  When  he  accepted  the  commission  in  the  Revolutionary  Army,  he 
stipulated  that  he  was  to  receive  no  pay  for  his  services.  Upon  reaching 
the  headquarters  of  the  army  in  Cambridge  his  difficulties  were  great.  The 
army  was  unorganized.  The  soldiers  were  impatient  under  camp  life  and 
camp  discipline  and  were  discouraged  by  the  lack  of  ammunition.  This 
was  the  critical  situation.  Washington  molded  this  fighting  material  into 
a  great  military  organization,  restored  confidence,  and  aroused  the  inspira- 
tion which  developed  into  the  "spirit  of  '76." 

American  patriotism  was  organized  into  an  efficient,  vigorous,  vic- 
torious force  that  finally  swept  the  last  vestige  of  monarchy  from  the  Amer- 
ican colonies.  When,  after  the  siege  of  Boston,  General  Washington  be- 
took himself  to  New  York,  which  was  threatened  by  the  English,  then 
occupying  Staten  Island,  he  had  only  20,000  troops,  ill-prepared  and  sup- 
plied with  poor  weapons.  The  English  had  700  ships  and  30,000  trained 
troops.  The  English  were  well  drilled,  plentifully  supplied  with  ammuni- 
tion, and  regularly  paid. 

While  we  cannot  in  the  space  at  our  disposal  recount  the  glorious  his- 
tory of  the  American  Revolution,  it  will  be  quite  sufficient  to  bear  in  mind 
the  various  handicaps  that  the  Commander-in-Chief  suffered  to  realize  the 
full  meaning  of  his  final  triumph.  One  of  his  greatest  achievements, 
and  one  to  which  historians  seldom  refer,  was  the  tremendous  task  of  dis- 
banding the  army  when  peace  again  reigned  in  the  land.  Washington's 
firmness,  his  good  sense,  his  tact  saved  the  country  from  what  might  have 
been  a  terrible  crisis.  He  bade  farewell  to  his  officers  and  retired  from 
public  life  until  1789,  when  his  grateful  fellow-citizens  conferred  upon 
him  the  greatest  honor  it  was  theirs  to  give — that  of  first  President  of  the 
United  States. 

394 


GREAT  AMERICAN  SOLDIERS 

The  most  eminent  soldier  produced  by  the  American  Revolution 
(other  than  Washington)  was  Nathaniel  Greene,  a  Rhode  Island  black- 
smith of  Quaker  birth.  He  was  the  fit  counterpart  of  his  great  comman- 
der. Washington  stood  for  the  aristocracy  of  the  South,  Greene  personi- 
fied nobly  the  democracy  of  the  North.  They  came  to  mutual  appreciation 
by  their  similar  qualities  of  common  sense,  rectitude,  courage,  and  untiring 
application  to  details.  A  wonderful  tactician,  Greene,  when  technically 
defeated,  succeeded  on  every  occasion  in  retreating  in  good  order  and  in- 
flicting fearful  losses  on  his  enemies.  It  was  after  one  of  Greene's  defeats 
that  Charles  James  Fox  exclaimed :  "Another  such  victory  would  destroy 
the  British  army." 

A  picturesque  old  warrior  who  appeals  strongly  to  the  imagination 
— a  representative  of  the  fervid  Americanism  born  of  the  Revolution — is 
Andrew  Jackson.  He  occupies  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  military  annals 
of  this  country.  Too  young  to  take  part  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution, 
he  was  old  enough  to  acquire  a  heroic  love  of  the  cause  which  spurred  him  to 
vigorous  action  when  the  storm  burst  in  the  War  of  1812.  The  revolt  of 
the  Creeks  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  show  his  value  as  a  commander. 
When  the  Creek  war  was  over,  Jackson  on  his  own  responsibility  conducted 
an  operation  against  Spanish  Florida.  Then  he  hastened  to  the  defense 
of  New  Orleans.  Jackson's  troops  were  rough  frontiersmen,  armed  with 
good  rifles,  ignorant  of  tactics  and  discipline,  but  perfect  marksmen.  He 
led  them  to  victory  on  that  historic  day  in  1815.  The  British  lost  3,300 
killed  or  wounded  and  500  prisoners  out  of  7,000  men.  The  victor  was 
suddenly  magnified  by  this  triumph,  and  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  made 
him  a  representative  figure  in  American  politics. 

The  war  against  Mexico  developed  two  vigorous  military  characters. 
Zachary  Taylor  had  been  fighting  the  Indians  for  forty  years  when  he  was 
entrusted  with  the  command  of  the  army  operating  against  Mexico  from 
the  north  in  1846.  Early  in  the  war,  he  defeated  overwhelmingly  the 
Mexican  forces  at  Monterey  and  Buena  Vista.  Politicians,  however,  were 
playing  havoc  with  the  plans  of  the  various  generals.  Most  of  Taylor's 
troops  were  called  back,  and  he  was  forced  to  discontinue  operations. 
Feeling  himself  ill-used  by  the  Government,  he  resigned  his  command. 
He  left  a  lasting  memory  among  his  associates.  His  soldiers  called  him 
"Old  Rough  and  Ready."  He  was  to  them  the  personification  of  justice 
and  kindliness.  A  plain  and  direct  man,  he  loathed  "fuss  and  feathers," 
never  wore  a  uniform,  and  went  into  action  with  a  straw  hat  and  a  linen 
duster. 

Few  American  soldiers  have  been  more  neglected  by  historians  than 
Winfield  Scott.  It  was  his  misfortune  to  end  his  career  when  public  at- 

395 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

tention  was  riveted  on  the  tremendous  events  of  the  Civil  War,  which  soon 
dimmed  the  memory  of  his  exploits.  Scott  never  was  put  to  the  test  of 
handling  large  armies,  but  in  his  small  field  he  played  his  part  like  a  great 
strategist.  His  march  from  the  coast  to  Mexico  City,  following  closely 
the  route  once  adopted  by  Cortez,  would  have  ended  tragically  for  most 
warriors.  The  natural  obstacles  encountered  on  his  way  to  the  table-land, 
and  the  superior  numbers  of  the  enemy,  taxed  heavily  his  commanding 
capacities,  but  his  discipline,  skill,  and  intelligence  won  the  victory.  In 
five  months  he  reached  Mexico  City,  and  the  war  was  practically  ter- 
minated. 

It  was  the  American  Civil  War  that  brought  the  great  soldiers  to  the 
front — soldiers  whose  names  stand  to-day  among  the  world's  masters  of 
military  strategy.  The  genius  behind  the  armies  of  the  Union  and  the 
Confederacy  made  this  war  a  terrific  contest  in  the  skill  and  wits  of  great 
men.  Let  us  look  first  upon  the  strong,  bold  figure  of  the  victor — the  quiet 
man  with  the  indomitable  will — General  Ulysses  S.  Grant  (1822-1885). 
Here  we  see  a  graduate  of  West  Point;  he  served  in  the  Mexican  War 
under  Taylor  and  Scott.  Through  a  chain  of  fortuitous  circumstances  he 
resigned  from  the  army  and  became  a  clerk  in  his  father's  leather  store 
in  Illinois.  There  it  was  that  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  found  him. 
His  past  experience  enabled  him  to  forge  rapidly  to  the  front,  and  he  was 
soon  made  a  brigadier-general.  His  capture  of  Fort  Donelson  brought 
him  prominently  before  the  country,  and  the  part  he  played  in  this  coun- 
try's greatest  war  need  not  be  retold.  It  is  sufficient  to  state  that  by  sheer 
force  of  decision,  by  his  genius  in  commanding  great  bodies  of  men,  by 
his  skill  in  driving  them  through  terrific  campaigns,  by  his  ability  to  wear 
down  his  adversary  in  numbers,  munitions,  and  food  supplies — by  taking 
the  fullest  advantage  of  all  these  conditions  and,  above  all,  by  his  tenacity 
— he  brought  the  Union  arms  to  victory. 

And  it  was  a  noble  adversary  that  he  met  in  a  noble  way  on  that  mo- 
mentous day  of  surrender.  Grant  and  Lee  are  two  magnificent  examples 
of  American  character  at  the  moment  of  its  supreme  test.  Grant  ennobled 
victory;  Lee  ennobled  defeat — both  clasped  hands  as  an  expression  of  a  re- 
united people  and  pledged  themselves  to  the  principles  set  forth  in  "Amer- 
ica— The  Land  We  Love."  There  is  no  name  in  American  history  that 
evokes  a  more  instant  throb  of  affection  in  either  the  North  or  the  South 
than  that  of  Robert  E.  Lee.  Leader  of  a  lost  cause,  he  won  admiration 
in  defeat  by  his  great  heart,  his  great  soul,  and  his  strength  of  character. 
Lee  led  his  people  through  the  greatest  crisis  in  our  national  life — the  sad- 
dest struggle  in  the  history  of  nations. 

It  is  unnecessary  here  to  discuss  the  causes  of  the  Civil  War;  they  were 

396 


BATTLE   OF  MONMOUTH   IN   AMERICAN   REVOLUTION— Here,    in   excessive   heat   after  long 

marches,  Washington's  Army  met  Sir  Henry  Clinton  on  June  '28,  1778 — Where 

Moll  Pitcher  took  her  dead  husband's  place  as  canoneer. 


BATTLE  OF  EITAU    SIMMNCS  IN  AMERICAN   REVOLUTION — This  severe  battle  wris  fought 
in  South  Carolina,  on  September  8.  1781 — The  British  were  driven  from  the  field  but 
rallied  unexpectedly  and  renewed  the  battle,  finally  to  retreat. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  SOLDIERS 

indeed  unfortunate,  but  as  Americans  to-day  we  can  all  pay  tribute  to 
Grant  and  Lee.  Both  have  been  accorded  notable  positions  as  great  sol- 
diers. Lee  fought  a  losing  cause  to  exhaustion — and  then  won  a  great 
triumph  of  peace  in  his  closing  years.  The  scene  of  his  surrender  is  prob- 
ably the  most  pathetic  and  affecting  event  of  the  whole  war.  A  plain  room 
with  two  men :  one  in  gray,  and  the  other  in  blue — Grant  and  Lee.  The 
business  that  brought  them  together  was  settled  in  a  few  minutes.  Grant, 
filled  with  reverence  for  the  valor  of  his  adversary,  accorded  him  all  the 
consideration  he  deserved  and  accepted  the  parole  of  28,000  men  and  their 
officers.  Having  become  once  more  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  Lee 
maintained  during  the  period  of  reconstruction  an  attitude  of  dignified 
silence  and  stood  loyal  to  American  institutions. 

The  Civil  War  brought  forth  many  strong  men.  Here  we  can  men- 
tion but  typical  examples  of  American  soldiery.  In  the  Union  Army  one 
of  the  conspicuous  figures  is  William  Tecumseh  Sherman  (1820-1891). 
He  first  served  in  the  Seminole  War;  then  resigned  from  the  army  and  en- 
tered first  mercantile  and  then  professional  life.  He  re-entered  the  army 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War  and  was  present  at  the  first  battle  of 
Bull  Run.  When  Grant  was  made  commander-in-chief,  Sherman  was 
given  the  command  of  the  chief  armies  in  the  West.  Sherman  carried  out 
Grant's  strategical  plan  to  destroy  the  enemy's  prestige  by  marching 
through  its  country  and  destroying  the  supplies  sent  to  the  Southern  armies 
in  the  famous  march  through  Georgia.  The  credit  for  Lee's  capitulation 
at  Appomattox  is  clearly  due  first  and  foremost  to  Grant.  But  the  chief 
subordinate  factor  in  that  victory  was  the  use  of  cavalry  in  the  form  of  a 
massed  division  of  mounted  infantry  and  its  brilliant  leading  by  Philip 
Sheridan.  The  march  of  his  corps  from  Petersburg  to  Appomattox  is  a 
great  military  object  lesson.  In  no  war  has  there  been  observed  a  better 
strategical  and  tactical  use  of  mounted  men. 

A  virile,  magnetic  figure  in  the  Army  of  the  Confederacy  was  that  of 
Stonewall  Jackson.  He  has  been  likened  to  Cromwell.  Like  Cromwell, 
he  had  daring;  he  was  swift  in  execution,  decisive  in  crisis.  He  is  best 
characterized  by  one  incident  of  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run.  General  Bee 
galloped  toward  him  shouting:  "They  are  beating  us  back."  Not  a 
muscle  on  Jackson's  face  moved.  His  thin  lips  parted,  and  he  simply 
answered:  "Then  we  will  give  them  the  bayonet."  And  Bee,  riding 
back  toward  his  routed  soldiers,  called  out  to  them:  "Look!  There  is 
Jackson  standing  like  a  stone  wall."  The  men  took  up  the  cry  and  pressed 
forward.  Fate  willed  it  that  at  Chancellorsville,  Stonewall  Jackson, 
through  a  fatal  error,  should  be  shot  in  the  very  instant  of  victory  by  the 
soldiers  who  idolized  him.  He  died  a  few  days  later,  having  received 

399 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

from  Lee  a  letter  which  contained  that  sentence  of  heroic  grandeur  and 
simplicity:  "Could  I  have  directed  the  course  of  events,  I  should  have 
chosen  for  the  good  of  the  country  to  be  disabled  in  your  stead." 

The  last  Confederate  general  to  capitulate  was  Joseph  Eggleston 
Johnston.  His  army  surrendered  to  Sherman  and  was  disbanded.  It 
was  his  duty  to  act  as  pallbearer  at  the  funeral  of  Grant;  the  man  who 
twenty-two  years  before  at  Vicksburg,  had  declared  that  Johnston  was 
the  only  soldier  he  feared  on  the  Southern  side.  Johnston  rendered  the 
same  homage  to  his  great  opponent  Sherman  and  in  the  performance  of 
that  duty  caught  a  chill  which  a  few  weeks  later  met  with  a  fatal  result. 

The  Warrior.     Let  us  pledge  this  parting  toast  to  him: 

"Soldier,  rest.    Thy  warfare  o'er, 
Dream  of  fighting  fields  no  more; 
Sleep  the  sleep  that  knows  no  breaking. 
Morn  of  toil,  nor  night  of  waking." 

— Scott. 

And  with  Bayard  Taylor  let  us  give  due  reverence: 

"Sleep  soldiers.    Still  in  honored  rest 
Your  truth  and  valor  wearing : 
The  bravest  are  the  tenderest,— 
The  loving  are  the  daring." 


400 


PART  V  CHAPTER  XV 


GREAT  AMERICAN  JURISTS 


"The  foundations  of  Justice  are  that  no  one  shall  suffer  wrong;  then, 
that  the  public  good  be  promoted." 

— Cicero. 


JUSTICE — here  we  have  the  scales  that  weigh  the  policies  that  regu- 
late civil  society.     And  any  deviation  from  it,  under  any  circum- 
stances, throws  human  society  into  chaos.     "Justice,"  as  Addison 
says,  "discards  party,  friendship,  kindred,  and  is  always  therefore 
represented  as  blind" — blind  to  everything  but  justice.     And  justice  itself 
must  find  its  medium  for  expression  in  law,  which  again  must  be  founded 
on  reason. 

"Reason,"  said  Coke  in  his  "Institutes,"  "is  the  life  of  the  law;  nay 
the  common  law  itself  is  nothing  else  but  reason."  Froude,  in  his  "Short 
Studies  on  Great  Subjects,"  remarks  that  "just  laws  are  no  restraint  upon 
the  freedom  of  the  good,  for  the  good  man  desires  nothing  which  a  just  law 
will  interfere  with,"  adding  in  another  essay  that  "our  human  laws  are  but 
the  copies,  more  or  less  imperfect,  of  the  eternal  laws,  so  far  as  we  can 
read  them." 

The  American  Nation  stands  before  the  world  as  an  attempt  to 
gather  all  the  races  of  the  earth  into  one  family  group  pledged  to  an  effort 
to  establish  not  exact  but  comparative  justice,  or  as  nearly  so  as  human 
imperfections  will  allow.  It  is  a  noble  undertaking  that  will  require 
many  epochs  of  experimentation  to  establish  the  principle  on  a  permanent 
working  basis,  and  will  require  constant  readjustment  to  conform  with 
the  ever-changing  needs  of  the  people  in  their  social  and  economic  evo- 
lution. 

Law,  therefore,  other  than  its  Mosaic  foundations,  cannot  remain 
static;  it  is  a  growth,  an  evolution,  subject  to  all  the  transformations  and 
all  the  frailties  of  the  human  race.  Thus  we  have  our  courts  of  law  as 
the  public  tribunals  in  which  the  people  may  gather  to  protect  their  lives 
and  their  rights,  to  arrange  an  equitable  distribution  of  property,  and  to 
maintain  the  equilibrium  of  society.  These  courts  prove  openly  to  the 
world  the  measure  of  our  ability  or  inability  to  control  that  subtle  power 
which  we  call  Justice.  Courts  of  law  should  be  neither  places  of  severe 
discipline  nor  chambers  which  cast  fear  upon  society,  but  rather  houses  of 
refuge  for  the  oppressed.  "No  government  is  safe  until  it  be  fortified 

401 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

by  good  will,"  said  Nepos,  while  Terence,  another  Latin  writer,  truly  re- 
marked: "It  is  a  great  error,  in  my  opinion,  to  believe  that  a  government 
is  more  firm  or  assured,  when  it  is  supported  by  force,  than  when  founded 
on  affection." 

There  are  more  than  thirty  thousand  lawyers  practising  before  the 
courts  of  the  United  States  to-day.  Billions  of  dollars  have  been  ex- 
pended to  build  courthouses.  The  judicial  system  in  operation  has  been 
explained  in  another  chapter,  and  it  is  possible  here  only  to  consider  a  few 
of  the  strong  characters  that  have  given  their  lives  to  the  upbuilding  of 
this  system  of  jurisprudence  in  America.  Many  men  who  distinguished 
themselves  at  the  bar  or  on  the  bench  were  also  eminent  in  the  public 
service.  We  shall  therefore  confine  our  remarks  to  those  who  have  shone 
forth  more  brilliantly  in  the  legal  profession  than  in  any  of  their  other 
activities. 

The  first  eminent  American  jurist  was  John  Marshall  (1775-1835). 
So  famous  did  he  become  as  a  Chief  Justice  that  few  people  know  that  he 
was  also  a  soldier,  an  envoy,  a  historian,  and  a  statesman.  He  became  of 
age  two  months  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  signed  and  en- 
listed in  the  American  Revolution.  He  fought  in  two  of  the  most  impor- 
tant engagements  in  the  campaign  of  1779.  Soon  afterward  he  began  to 
study  law,  and,  after  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  in  1781,  gained  reputation 
as  a  brilliant  young  barrister  in  his  native  Virginia.  Marshall  did  more 
than  any  one  else,  except  Madison,  to  induce  Virginia  to  adopt  the  Federal 
Constitution.  At  the  request  of  George  Washington,  he  ran  for  Con- 
gress and  was  elected  in  1799.  A  year  later,  he  was  appointed  Secretary 
of  State  and  rendered  great  service  to  the  nation.  For  thirty  years,  he 
was  the  respected  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
He  interpreted  the  Constitution  in  the  most  liberal  spirit  and  discharged 
his  heavy  duties  with  a  moral  courage  that  won  respect  and  confidence 
from  every  one  who  knew  him. 

The  rulings  and  arguments  of  Marshall  were  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance to  the  courts,  for  the  machinery  of  the  new  government  was  still 
working  experimentally,  and  the  Constitution  was  only  vaguely  under- 
stood by  the  majority  of  the  lawyers.  Judge  Story  said  of  Marshall: 
"If  all  his  other  judicial  arguments  were  taken  away  from  us,  his  clear 
exposition  of  constitutional  law  would  have  sufficed  to  make  his  name  live 
forever."  Some  of  the  best-known  cases  that  came  before  him  which  have 
since  served  as  precedents  were  Peck  vs.  Fletcher,  when  an  act  of  the  State 
of  Georgia  was  declared  void;  McCulloch  vs.  the  State  of  Maryland, 
when  the  court  decided  that  Congress  had  the  power  to  charter  a  national 
bank  with  branches  in  all  the  States  and  that  such  banks  could  not  be  taxed 

402 


FAMOUS  ORATIONS  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY— This  painting  by  Rothermel  shows  Patrick  Henry 

delivering  his  celebrated  speech  before  the  House  of  Burgesses  in  Virginia  in  1765— The 

aristocratic   Burgesses   were  astounded  as   the  young  statesman   denounced   the 

crown  and  proclaimed  the  principles  of  liberty  to  the  American  people— 

Ihe  cry  of  "Treason  !"  rose  from  all  parts  of  the  house — Henry 

paused  a  moment  and  then  thundered  :  "Caesar  had  his 

Brutus,  Charles  the  First  his  Cromwell,  and 

George  the  Third  may  profit  by  these 

examples.    If  that  be  treason, 

in;ikc  the  most  of  it!" 


GREAT  MOMENTS  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY— This  painting  by  Carpenter  presents  Lincoln  surrounded  by  his  cabi- 
net, at  the  time  of  the  signing  of  the  Emancipation   Proclamation.       This  Proclamation   exterminated 
slavery  from  the  Southern  States  forever — It  was  signed  on  September  2tl,  1862. 


<;\l\<;  THE  EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION— This   Proclamation,    by    a    single   stroke,    struck   the   chains   of 
bondage  from  more  than  three  million  humat  beings — It    destroyed    the   institution  of  slavery 
that  had  been  drafted  into  the  American  nation  since  its  foundation. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  JURISTS 

by  State  authority.  Aaron  Burr's  trial  for  high  treason  also  came  before 
him,  and  on  many  points  the  Chief  Justice  boldly  stood  at  variance  with 
the  most  important  men  of  the  day. 

The  great  diplomatic  negotiations  which  took  place  after  the  Amer- 
ican Revolution  will  always  be  associated  with  the  name  of  William  Pinck- 
ney,  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  his  day  (1764-1822).  He  was  se- 
lected by  Washington  as  one  of  the  commissioners  to  England  mentioned 
in  Jay's  treaty.  For  eight  years  he  stayed  in  London  and  performed  his 
arduous  duties  with  great  skill.  On  his  return  home  he  became  Attorney- 
General  of  Maryland,  but  went  back  to  London  to  settle  the  delicate  ques- 
tion of  England's  right  to  seize  English  seamen  on  board  of  American 
vessels.  He  returned  in  1811  and  accepted  the  office  of  Attorney-General 
of  the  United  States. 

The  name  of  Kent  holds  an  eminent  position  in  American  law. 
James  Kent  (1763-1847)  was  a  New  York  man  educated  at  Yale.  At 
an  early  age  he  became  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York  State, 
Master  in  Chancery,  and  Recorder  of  the  City  of  New  York.  With  Judge 
Ratcliffe,  he  revised  the  legal  Code  of  New  York.  He  was  appointed 
Chief  Justice  of  the  State,  and  later  Columbia  appointed  him  Professor 
of  Law  and  Chancellor.  His  fame  rests  mostly  upon  his  lectures,  which 
he  printed  in  book  form  under  the  title  of  "Commentaries  on  American 
Law"  and  which  have  become  classics  for  every  member  of  the  bar. 

Few  jurists  have  enjoyed  the  respect  that  has  been  accorded  to  Joseph 
Story,  a  classmate  of  the  great  preacher  Channing,  a  pupil  of  Samuel 
Sewall  and  Judge  Putnam.  His  name  became  prominent  for  the  first 
time  in  the  course  of  the  debate  relative  to  the  Embargo  Act.  Though  a 
Democrat  and  a  faithful  follower  of  Jefferson,  he  separated  himself  from 
his  leader  when  the  question  arose  of  the  repeal  of  that  act.  When  Madi- 
son took  Jefferson's  place  as  President,  he  appointed  Story  as  Chief  Justice 
of  the  United  States.  Story  was  only  thirty-two  then,  and  he  filled  that 
responsible  position  with  ability  for  thirty-four  years.  He  helped  to 
revise  the  Constitution  of  Massachusetts,  and  taught  law  at  Harvard  Col- 
lege. His  lectures  covered  a  very  wide  range  of  subjects;  laws  of  nations, 
laws  of  the  sea  and  of  commerce,  federal  equity,  constitutional  law,  etc. 
His  opinions  on  these  various  topics  generally  agreed  with  those  held  by 
Chief  Justice  Marshall.  Story's  written  works  make  over  sixty  volumes; 
not  only  do  they  contain  an  invaluable  treasure  of  information  but  their 
clarity  of  style  makes  them  documents  of  no  mean  importance  in  American 
letters. 

A  great  statesman  as  well  as  a  jurist  was  Rufus  Choate  (1799-1858). 
His  splendid  legal  talent  made  him  the  peer  of  the  greatest  lawyers  in 

407 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

history.  It  has  been  said,  that  whether  he  addressed  a  jury  of  twelve  men 
or  a  crowded  audience,  he  seemed  to  bend  men's  minds  to  his  own  will, 
for  no  one  had  a  better  knowledge  of  psychology  and  of  the  means  to  make 
the  most  effective  appeal  to  human  intelligence  and  emotion.  While 
arousing  his  audience  to  the  highest  pitch  of  excitement,  he  remained  per- 
fectly cool  and  self-controlled.  Later,  he  held  the  Senate  under  his 
mighty  power  as  he  had  the  court-rooms.  His  addresses  on  the  McLeod 
case,  the  Fiscal  Bank  Bill,  Oregon,  the  Tariff,  the  Smithsonian  Insti- 
tute, mark  an  epoch  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Senate,  although  he  remained 
a  member  of  that  body  but  a  single  year. 

Those  were  days  of  epoch-making  decisions.  There  was  a  young 
student  under  Judge  Story  in  the  Harvard  Law  School,  who  afterward 
became  his  most  intimate  and  faithful  friend.  It  was  Charles  Sumner 
(1811-1874),  who  studied  so  diligently  that  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
at  the  age  of  twenty-three.  Those,  too,  were  the  days  when  men  like 
Wendell  Phillips,  Gerrit  Smith,  the  Tappan  brothers,  Salmon  P.  Chase, 
and  others,  were  devoting  their  energies  to  abolitionist  propaganda,  and 
the  country  was  becoming  deeply  divided  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  It 
was  impossible  for  an  intelligent  man  to  remain  neutral  on  that  question. 
Simmer's  feelings  were  with  the  abolitionists,  and  before  long  he  had  be- 
come well-known  as  their  exponent.  His  Fourth  of  July  Oration,  de- 
livered in  Boston  in  1845,  was  reprinted  throughout  the  country.  It 
thrilled  the  American  people  with  the  spirit  of  liberty. 

In  the  Senate,  Sumner  opposed  courageously  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill, 
which  made  it  lawful  for  United  States  officers  to  arrest  runaway  slaves 
found  in  the  Northern  States,  and  he  was  one  of  the  leading  debaters  on 
the  famous  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill.  It  was  after  a  splendid  address  in 
favor  of  admitting  Kansas  into  the  Union,  in  which  he  showed  the  grow- 
ing power  of  slavery,  that  he  was  attacked  by  an  ardent  opponent  in  Con- 
gress and  so  severely  injured  that  for  a  number  of  years  he  could  not  enter 
into  active  public  life. 

Near  the  close  of  Buchanan's  term,  Sumner  returned  to  the  Senate 
and  pronounced  his  famous  speech  on  "Slavery."  He  worked  for  Lincoln 
in  his  presidential  campaign,  and,  although  the  two  did  not  agree  on  the 
method  of  solving  the  slavery  question,  they  were  very  warm  friends. 
Sumner  was  Lincoln's  constant  adviser  in  legal  and  public  matters  and 
was  known  as  a  minister  outside  the  cabinet.  Sumner  made  a  speech  in 
1869  that  has  remained  historic — it  was  a  brilliant  argument  upon  the 
Alabama  Claims,  that  is,  the  claims  of  the  United  States  upon  Great 
Britain  for  the  damage  done  by  the  Alabama  and  other  Confederate  priva- 
teers allowed  to  escape  to  sea.  His  last  important  act  was  to  press  his  Bill 

408 


GREAT  AMERICAN  JURISTS 

of  Rights,  by  which  the  law  was  made  the  same  for  colored  and  white  peo- 
ple in  every  State  of  the  Union. 

Sumner  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  will-power  and  influence.  There 
was  perhaps  no  one  in  the  Senate,  during  the  twenty  years  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  that  body,  who  could  wield  so  strong  an  influence  on  the  American 
people.  Favor  or  popularity  did  not  count  with  him,  but  he  often  suc- 
ceeded in  creating  a  favorable  feeling  about  certain  unpopular  causes  by 
the  honesty  and  the  ardor  with  which  he  championed  them.  This  was 
plainly  the  case  in  regard  to  the  Confederates,  Mason  and  Slidell,  who  had 
been  taken  off  a  British  vessel  during  the  war;  in  regard  to  the  act  of  free- 
ing the  slaves,  which  he  urged  Lincoln  to  perform  after  Antietam;  and 
upon  the  San  Domingo  question,  when  he  opposed  the  idea  of  making  that 
island  a  part  of  the  United  States. 

The  front  ranks  of  the  legal  profession  included  William  Maxwell 
Evarts  (1818-1901),  educated  at  Yale  and  later  at  the  Harvard  Law 
School.  He  became  Federal  District  Attorney  at  thirty-three  years  of 
age.  When  President  Johnson  was  impeached,  Evarts  was  his  chief  coun- 
sel. Soon  after  that  great  question  was  settled,  he  was  appointed  Attor- 
ney-General of  the  United  States.  Four  years  later,  he  was  again  con- 
nected with  a  famous  case.  This  was  the  affair  known  as  the  Alabama 
Claims  on  which  Sumner  delivered  his  famous  address.  When  at  last  a 
convention  was  agreed  upon  to  effect  a  settlement,  Evarts  acted  as  chief 
counsel  for  the  United  States.  His  conduct  of  the  case  was  brilliant, 
and  our  case  was  won  with  credit  to  the  republic  and  to  himself.  He 
appeared  as  a  national  figure  in  the  presidential  election  dispute,  when 
the  whole  country  was  in  doubt  as  to  whether  Tilden  or  Hayes  had  re- 
ceived the  greater  number  of  ballots.  To  decide  the  matter  an  electoral 
commission  met  to  hear  the  claims  of  both  candidates.  Hayes  was  repre- 
sented in  the  controversy  by  Evarts,  who  secured  a  decision  in  favor  of  his 
client  and  of  the  Republican  Party.  Evarts  was  a  member  of  the  Inter- 
national Monetary  Congress  in  Paris,  in  1881,  and  was  elected  Senator 
to  the  United  States  from  New  York  in  1885. 

So  it  has  been  that  America  always  has  had,  and  has  to-day,  many 
of  the  ablest  jurists  in  the  whole  annals  of  human  law.  The  record  is 
too  long  and  the  fact  too  well  established  for  further  discussion  in  these 
pages.  We  will  dismiss  the  subject  with  a  statement  of  the  duties  of  a 
judge  as  defined  by  Socrates:  "Four  things  belong  to  a  judge,"  he  said, 
"to  hear  courteously,  to  answer  wisely,  to  consider  soberly,  and  to  decide 
impartially."  The  greatest  warning  of  all  to  the  American  people  are  the 
words  of  the  Earl  of  Chatham  in  the  case  of  Wilkes :  "Where  law  ends, 
tvranny  begins." 

409 


PART  V  CHAPTER  XVI 


GREAT  AMERICAN  FINANCIERS 


"Money  was  made  not  to  command  our  will, 
But  all  our  lawful  pleasures  to  fulfill." 
— CovAey. 


1 


"\HE  building  of  a  nation  requires  four  dynamic  forces — the  do- 
main on  which  to  build ;  the  plan  with  which  to  build ;  the  men 
who  are  to  build;  and  the  money  or  resources  to  finance  the 
three  preceding  factors.  The  importance  of  the  last-named 
must  not  be  either  under-  or  over-estimated.  It  is  the  motive  power  be- 
hind men  and  ideas,  the  propelling  force  behind  progress,  the  economic 
momentum  behind  all  civilization. 

"The  almighty  dollar"  is  an  American  phrase,  used  first  by  Wash- 
ington Irving.  And  it  is  quite  true  that  the  American  people  have  placed 
a  high  standard  on  the  creation  of  wealth,  but  it  must  also  be  remem- 
bered that  the  ambition  for  riches  is  as  old  as  the  human  race;  that  men 
and  nations  fought  and  intrigued  and  went  to  decay  in  the  seeking  of 
wealth  long  before  the  American  continent  was  known  to  exist.  It  was 
in  fact  the  Old  World's  greed  for  gold  that  created  the  impulse  which  re- 
sulted in  the  discovery  of  America  and  which  led  to  the  founding  of  nearly 
all  the  settlements  (except  the  Pilgrim,  Quaker,  and  Jesuit  foundations) 
on  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

Ovid  in  the  days  of  ancient  Rome  declared:  "Money  brings  office; 
money  gains  friends;  everywhere  the  poor  man  is  down,"  and  spoke  of 
"the  ungovernable  passion  for  wealth."  Horace  remarked:  "All  power- 
ful money  gives  birth  and  beauty,"  while  Sallust  exclaimed:  "Few  set  a 
higher  value  on  good  faith  than  on  money."  In  the  days  of  glory 
in  England — the  Elizabethan  days — wealth  was  the  mightiest  power. 
Shakespeare,  in  his  "Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,"  proclaims:  "Money  is 
a  good  soldier,  sir,  and  will  on!"  Milton,  in  his  "Paradise  Regained," 
pays  this  tribute  to  the  power  of  money:  "Money  brings  honor,  friends, 
conquest,  and  realms."  Pope  exclaims  in  his  moralizations :  "Get  Place 
and  Wealth,  if  possible  with  grace;  if  not,  by  any  means  get  Wealth  and 
Place."  Ben  Jonson,  in  his  characterization  of  the  times,  declares:  "Get 
money;  still  get  money,  boys;  no  matter  by  what  means."  While  Byron 
remarks  that  "ready  money  is  Aladdin's  lamp." 

Thus,  let  it  be  known  that  the  American  people  did  not  invent  wealth, 

410 


WHERE  THE  CREAT  AMERICAN  WAKKIOKS  ARE  TRAINED — Glimpses  at  West  Point  on  the 
Hudson    River — This   institution    was    founded   in    1802 — Appointments   are   made   by    tne 
1'resident — Nearly  all  the  great  commanders  in  the  American  wars  have  been  graduated   » 
from    this    institution — It    has    contributed    many    eminent    engineers    and    dis- 
tinguished  statesmen — The   institution    is   limited   to   <5(5S    cadets. 


WIIERB  THE  <;REAT  AMERICAN  NAVAL  OFFICERS  ARE  TRAINEI> — Here  wo  look  upon 

the   .Midshipmen    at    the    I'nited    States    Naval    Academy   at   Annapolis,    Maryland — This 

institution   was  established  in    1M4ii—  It  is  hero  that  the  sea  fighters  are  made 

who  have  fought  so  gallantly  in  the  American  wars — Their  skill  and 

bravery    has    given    them    first    position. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  FINANCIERS 

but  created  it  out  of  their  own  genius  and  the  bounties  of  nature.  It 
is  neither  the  standard  of  attainment  nor  the  goal  of  ambition  in  America, 
but  merely  the  medium  for  expressing  ideas,  realizing  higher  ideals — the 
machinery  for  the  operation  of  an  economic  system  that  brings  to  all  the 
people  the  full  measure  of  "life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 

The  financing  of  the  American  republic  has  been  a  heroic  task — the 
banker  has  been  of  importance  equal  to  that  of  the  soldier.  The  untold 
wealth  of  the  continent — its  coal,  iron,  oil,  gold,  silver,  copper — would 
still  be  slumbering  in  the  earth  were  it  not  for  the  financial  organization 
necessary  to  bring  them  to  utility.  The  world-revolutionizing  inventions 
— electricity,  the  telephone,  telegraph,  railroading,  steamshipping — could 
not  have  come  into  existence  without  the  finances  with  which  to  develop 
them.  Labor  and  capital  are  brothers  inseparable — each  is  impotent  with- 
out the  other;  it  is  men  first — and  then  money  that  forges  the  way  for  civ- 
ilization. 

The  United  States  has  achieved  the  stupendous  feat  of  growing 
from  a  wilderness  into  the  richest  nation  in  the  world  in  the  brief  span  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  years.  It  is  a  race  of  great  financiers  who 
have  constructed  our  banking  credit  and  have  built  our  canals,  and  rail- 
ways, opened  our  mines,  developed  our  agriculture,  established  our  in- 
dustries, and  financed  our  wars.  Some  of  these  men  were  heroes,  some 
of  them  were  romantic  figures,  some  of  them  were  saviors  of  the  Govern- 
ment itself,  some  of  them  were  great  statesmen,  and  without  their  com- 
bined genius  for  making  and  using  wealth,  this  continent  never  could  have 
been  conquered  from  nature.  No  people  in  the  world  owe  so  much  to  the 
men  who  know  how  to  accumulate  and  use  wealth  wisely  as  the  people  of 
the  United  States  owe  to  many  of  their  great  financiers. 

We  can  speak  of  but  a  few  of  the  best-known  "kings  of  finance"  in 
this  brief  chapter.  The  first  is  Robert  Morris  (1734-1806),  the  "financier 
of  the  American  Revolution."  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  there  were 
only  3,000,000  people  in  the  colonies,  and  all  of  them  together  did  not 
possess  as  much  wealth  as  five  rich  men  in  the  United  States  to-day.  Yet 
this  daring  little  group  of  liberty-loving  people,  separated  into  widely 
detached  localities  and  without  an  effective,  organic  national  government, 
undertook  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  the  strongest  nation  in  the  world. 
They  could  not  borrow  a  dollar  abroad,  for  their  so-called  Congress  had 
no  power  to  tax  them,  and  even  the  power  of  the  individual  colonies  to  tax 
their  people  was  very  limited. 

In  the  darkest  hour  of  the  American  Revolution,  just  after  the  battle 
of  Trenton,  even  the  great  Washington  himself  almost  despaired.  He 
wrote  to  Robert  Morris,  who  had  been  appointed  by  Congress  Super- 

413 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

intendent  of  Finance,  to  raise  immediately  $50,000  in  gold  and  silver  to 
pay  the  troops,  warning  him  that  failure  would  mean  that  a  large  number 
would  refuse  to  re-enlist.  They  would  not  accept  the  worthless  paper 
money.  Morris  knew  the  case  was  desperate.  He  was  a  prosperous 
merchant  and  a  man  of  wealth — one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  a  great  leader  in  the  business  world.  Morris  spent  the 
whole  night  calling  on  his  friends  and  begging  them  to  contribute.  At 
daylight  he  had  raised  the  money  that  did  a  greater  service  to  humanity 
perhaps  than  the  expenditure  of  any  other  $50,000  had  ever  accomplished. 
The  army  was  saved.  From  that  time  on  to  1784,  the  finances  of  the 
country  were  in  Morris'  absolute  control.  And  the  man  who  had  saved 
the  country  was  made  a  pauper  by  unfortunate  land  speculations  and  died 
in  a  debtor's  prison. 

The  second  great  financier  of  historical  importance  is  Alexander  Ham- 
ilton (1757-1804),  who  organized  our  national  financial  plan.  We  have 
made  seventeen  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
since  it  was  ratified,  and  we  have  made  hundreds  of  laws  modifying  its 
workings,  but  the  vast  machinery  by  which  the  revenues  of  our  Govern- 
ment are  collected  and  disbursed  is  still  that  which  was  devised  and  set 
in  motion  by  Hamilton — the  first  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  It  was  a 
tremendous  undertaking,  the  work  of  a  fertile  and  inventive  mind,  to  or- 
ganize a  machinery  so  effective  and  yet  so  elastic  that  it  would  run  for 
more  than  a  century  and  work  for  a  100,000,000  people  as  it  had  done 
for  less  than  5,000,000. 

The  Department  of  the  Treasury,  the  whole  financial  system  of  the 
Government  with  its  banking  and  credit,  was  the  creation  of  Hamilton. 
It  has  been  called  the  least  of  Hamilton's  splendid  work  for  the  young 
republic,  and  yet  it  is  a  monumental  achievement  for  the  career  of  any 
man.  When  the  United  States  had  won  its  independence  and  had  adopted 
the  Constitution,  chiefly  under  the  leadership  of  Hamilton,  almost  every 
State  was  in  a  condition  of  fiscal  debouch.  Many  thousands  of  dollars  of 
worthless  paper  money  were  issued  to  bolster  up  the  depreciated  currency. 
Public  and  private  bankruptcy  prevailed,  and  industrial  distress  stalked 
through  the  land.  Any  sort  of  a  financial  system  that  would  bring  order 
out  of  chaos,  stabilize  financial  transactions,  and  give  integrity  to  public 
debts,  would  be  an  act  of  supreme  statesmanship.  Without  this  confidence 
and  stability  the  republic  would  perish. 

It  was  at  the  hour  of  this  crisis  that  Hamilton  introduced  his  first 
report  on  the  public  credit.  His  plan  was  to  have  the  National  Govern- 
ment assume  the  responsibility  for  all  public  debts.  These  public  debts, 
foreign,  national,  and  State  contracted  in  the  war,  amounted  to  about 

414 


GREAT  AMERICAN  FINANCIERS 

$80,000,000.  This  whole  debt  was  to  be  met  by  a  system  of  taxation, 
the  revenues  of  which  were  to  come  partly  from  a  tariff  on  imports  and 
partly  from  excise.  Hamilton's  second  plan  was  for  the  establishing  of 
a  National  Bank.  It  was  this  bank  of  which  Daniel  Webster  spoke, 
when  he  said:  "He  (Hamilton)  smote  the  rock  of  national  resources, 
and  abundant  streams  of  revenues  gushed  forth;  he  touched  the  corpse  of 
public  credit,  and  it  sprang  to  its  feet." 

Hamilton  was  born  on  the  little  island  of  Nevis  in  the  West  Indies 
and  was  of  dubious  parentage.  When  a  lad  of  thirteen,  while  employed 
in  a  mercantile  house,  he  wrote  such  a  graphic  description  of  a  hurricane 
that  swept  the  island,  that  his  friends  decided  to  send  him  to  America  to 
be  educated.  He  gradually  emerged  from  obscurity,  becoming  an  officer 
on  Washington's  staff,  a  distinguished  lawyer,  a  partner  in  litigation  of 
his  future  mortal  enemy,  Aaron  Burr,  one  of  the  leading  spirits  in  fram- 
ing the  Constitution  and  getting  it  adopted,  culminating  his  career  as 
Washington's  Secretary  of  the  Treasury — then  to  be  slain  by  Burr  in  a 
duel.  Great  as  was  Hamilton's  work,  he  was  never  honored  as  was  his 
great  rival,  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  there  is  as  yet  no  statue  on  the  vacant 
plaza  in  front  of  the  Treasury  building  of  the  first  and  greatest  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury. 

The  third  great  financial  problem  in  this  country  came  with  the  Civil 
War.  Before  that  date  the  word  "billion"  was  never  heard  even  in  Wall 
Street.  A  billion  dollars  had  been  an  unthinkable  sum  of  money  for 
even  the  Government  to  borrow  or  to  owe,  but  with  the  war  the  Govern- 
ment had  to  borrow  over  $2,000,000,000  to  restore  the  Union.  As  Wash- 
ington had  found  in  Hamilton  the  man  to  construct  the  financial  founda- 
tion of  the  Government,  so  Lincoln  was  to  find  in  Salmon  P.  Chase 
(1808-1873)  the  man  to  construct  and  operate  the  financial  machinery  to 
carry  on  the  Civil  War.  When  Chase  came  into  the  Treasury  Department, 
a  gigantic  task  lay  before  him.  Public  credit  was  at  a  low  ebb.  Not 
only  had  the  Southern  States,  with  their  sources  of  governmental  revenue, 
withdrawn  from  the  Union,  but  there  was  a  powerful  financial  party  in 
the  North  which  denied  the  Government  the  right  to  coerce  the  South. 

Congress  had  been  so  disorganized  by  factional  fights  that  it  had 
been  impossible  to  enact  the  requisite  financial  legislation.  But  Chase, 
under  the  circumstances,  had  a  very  clear  conception  of  what  to  do  and 
how  to  do  it.  He  knew  how  to  make  the  public  understand  financial 
questions.  He  launched  his  system  of  National  Banks  designed  to  super- 
sede the  banks  organized  under  State  laws  and  then  remove  the  depend- 
ence of  the  Government  upon  such  banks.  The  circulating  notes  of  these 
National  Banks,  secured  both  by  private  capital  and  Government  bonds, 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

furnished  a  sound  and  uniform  currency.  As  soon  as  he  succeeded  in 
passing  his  scheme  through  Congress,  the  Government  was  in  a  position  to 
obtain  all  the  money  that  it  needed. 

The  nation  then  needed  only  one  or  more  great  bankers  to  promote 
and  exploit  its  borrowing  capacity  to  the  full  extent  of  the  war's  de- 
mands. That  banker  was  found  in  the  person  of  Jay  Cooke,  of  the  firm 
of  Jay  Cooke  &  Co.,  Philadelphia.  Cooke  had  made  a  great  reputation 
and  much  money  in  financing  railroads,  from  1858  to  1861,  such  as  the 
Missouri  Pacific  and  other  Western  roads.  He  had  a  control  of  the 
money  market  almost  as  complete  as  J.  Pierpont  Morgan  had  forty-five 
years  later.  Cooke  was  born  at  Sandusky,  Ohio,  and  he  and  the  secretary 
were  old  friends.  He  was  now  made  the  principal  financial  agent  of 
the  Government,  negotiating  three  loans  of  $970,000,000,  $200,000,000 
and  $830,000,000,  in  all  $2,000,000,000,  or  the  bulk  of  the  money  bor- 
rowed to  finance  the  war.  He  was  also  a  great  financial  power  after  the 
war  in  the  building  of  the  continental  railways.  It  was  the  failure  of  his 
house,  in  1873,  due  to  too  heavy  investment  in  Northern  Pacific  Railway 
securities,  that  caused  a  financial  panic. 

Among  the  potent  financial  figures  in  America  during  the  Nineteenth 
Century  were  many  vigorous  men.  There  was  Stephen  Gerard,  America's 
first  great  merchant  prince,  in  Philadelphia,  in  the  first  half  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Century.  There  was  John  Jacob  Astor,  whose  investment  of  his 
$20,000,000  from  the  fur  trade  in  New  York  real  estate,  had  an  im- 
portant economic  effect — through  it  more  than  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  peo- 
ple became  renters  and  that  condition  has  increased  with  the  years.  As- 
tor's  great  wealth  did  much  to  develop  New  York.  Then  there  is 
Cornelius  Vanderbilt's  $75,000,000  to  develop  the  coastwise  trade  and 
the  railroads  of  New  York.  Vanderbilt  was  one  of  the  great  builders 
of  the  nation.  At  his  death  he  owned  more  than  twenty  ocean-going 
steamers.  The  call  of  his  ships  at  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  showed  De 
Lesseps  what  a  great  trade-route  a  canal  there  would  at  once  become. 
He  was  not  only  a  pioneer  railroad  builder  but  one  of  the  very  first  to 
begin  the  consolidation  of  railroad  lines  which  had  grown  to  such  extent, 
and  power  that  forty  years  later  the  Government  found  it  expedient  to 
step  in  and  dissolve  them.  Probably  no  two  men  ever  had  a  clearer 
vision  of  what  New  York  was  destined  to  become  than  the  first  Astor  and 
the  first  Vanderbilt.  Certainly  no  two  men  did  more  to  determine  that 
destiny. 

Jay  Gould — a  master  of  organization — became  one  of  the  leading 
figures  in  the  financial  world  in  the  first  decade  after  the  war,  when  the 
country  began  its  great  railroad  development.  In  those  days,  Wall  Street 

416 


OUR    COUNTRY — AND    ITS    DEFENDERS — Gallant    seamen    upon    whom    we    depend    for    the 

safety  of  our  national  existence — The  United   States  expends  more  than  $40,000,000  a 

year  to  provide  for  the  welfare  and  comfort  of  the  officers  and  enlisted  men. 


BATTLESHIPS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  NAVY — These  ships  are  maintained  wholly  for  the  purpose 
of  protecting  our  country  against  injustice  or  invasion — The  American  Navy  now  ranks  * 

third  as  a  sea  power — It  has  the  longest  coast  line  of  any  nation  to  defend. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  FINANCIERS 

was  a  battle  ground  of  men.  Gould  manipulated  the  stock  market  with 
the  hand  of  a  wizard.  He  had  only  to  whisper  or  to  nod  his  head  to  pre- 
cipitate a  bear  market.  He  secured  control  of  the  Erie  Railroad  in  1868, 
and  soon  possessed  a  controlling  interest  in  the  Union  Pacific,  the  Missouri 
Pacific,  the  Wabash,  the  Texas  Pacific,  the  St.  Louis  and  Northern,  and 
the  St.  Louis  and  San  Francisco.  The  control  of  these  great  systems 
enabled  him  to  consolidate  all  the  competing  telegraph-lines  into  the  West- 
ern Union  in  1881. 

Russell  Sage — a  man  of  remarkable  financial  insight — was  Jay 
Gould's  partner  in  many  of  his  railroad  properties  and  in  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company.  Sage's  great  role  in  finance  was  that  of 
money  lender.  He  always  had  at  his  disposal  more  cash  for  other  men's 
enterprises  and  dreams  than  any  other  financier  in  the  country.  Sage  pos- 
sessed much  wisdom  in  advising  borrowers  how  to  invest  the  money  that 
he  loaned  them.  In  this  way,  his  service  to  the  railroad  development 
of  the  country  was  invaluable.  Perhaps  no  man  ever  knew  as  much  about 
Wall  Street  and  the  market  as  did  Sage. 

The  names  of  Harriman,  Morgan,  and  Hill  are  intimately  associated 
with  the  financing  of  the  development  of  the  country.  Harriman  began 
as  stock  broker  and  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  railroading.  When 
the  Union  Pacific  was  bankrupt,  he  prevailed  upon  Kuehn  and  Loeb  to 
allow  him  to  reorganize  it  with  their  help.  He  merged  this  road  with 
the  Chicago  and  Northwestern.  Under  Harriman's  management,  the 
Union  Pacific  became  prosperous;  credit  was  obtained  to  acquire  the 
Oregon  Short  Line  and  the  Oregon  Railways  and  Navigation  Company. 
The  controlling  interest  in  the  Southern  Pacific  was  turned  over  to  the 
Oregon  Short  Line.  This  gave  Harriman  a  central  direct  line  to  the  Pa- 
cific. He  waged  many  memorable  financial  fights  for  the  control  of  prop- 
erties. After  the  panic  of  1907,  Harriman  helped  to  develop  the  Erie 
Railroad,  turned  the  Central  of  Georgia  over  to  the  Illinois  Central, 
and  became  a  director  of  the  New  York  Central.  He  also  established 
close  traffic  connections  between  the  Union  Pacific  and  Kansas  City  South- 
ern. A  week  before  his  death,  he  had  made  public  plans  for  new  rail- 
road construction  and  improvements  involving  an  expenditure  of  over 
$300,000,000.  He  was  in  control  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Com- 
pany, the  Portland  and  Asiatic  Steamship  Company,  and  the  Wells  Fargo 
Express. 

A  great  movement  for  the  consolidation  of  transportation  systems, 
industries,  public  utilities,  etc.,  set  in  about  1898.  There  appeared  as  the 
master-mind  of  this  group  of  financiers — J.  Pierpont  Morgan.  His  career 
began  early  in  the  Civil  War,  and  by  1902  he  had  attained  in  the  finan- 

419 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

cial  world  a  power  unequalled  at  any  time  by  any  man  of  affairs. 
There  is  no  positive  record  of  the  properties  he  held  but  it  has  been  esti- 
mated that  he  was  "identified  with"  at  least  sixty  railroads.  His  financial 
control  extended  over  ten  billion  dollars.  The  achievement  of  Morgan's 
life  was  the  organization  of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation. 

Morgan  was  a  powerful  influence  in  our  national  affairs.  During 
the  panic  of  1907,  it  was  Morgan  who  prevented  the  rate  of  interest 
from  reaching  exaggerated  figures  by  depositing  very  large  sums  with  the 
various  banks  that  were  most  seriously  pressed  for  cash.  During  this  panic 
the  Steel  Trust  bought  from  the  Trust  Company  of  America  all  its  stock 
of  the  Tennessee  Coal  and  Iron  Company  as  collateral  for  loans,  and  thus 
eliminated  its  only  competitor  in  this  country. 

The  last  of  this  generation  of  great  financiers  is  James  J.  Hill — 
the  master-builder  of  the  Northwest.  He  was  born  in  Guelph,  Canada, 
1838,  went  to  Minnesota  in  1856.  His  fortune  began  when  he  and  a 
group  of  other  promoters  bought  the  property  of  the  bankrupt  Saint  Paul 
and  Pacific  Railroad  Company  in  1878.  Hill  paid  $6,780,000  for  all 
the  property  which  had  been  mortgaged  for  over  $28,000,000.  The  sale 
was  not  made  for  cash,  but  Hill  was  allowed  to  turn  in  as  payment  re- 
ceiver's debentures  and  bonds.  Hill  secured  more  franchises,  built  exten- 
sions, and  organized  the  Great  Northern  Railway.  Then  by  forcing  the 
application  of  the  1857  land  grant  act,  he  secured  valuable  land  in  Da- 
kota. He  owned  immense  ore  desposits  in  Minnesota  and  leased  them  to 
the  Steel  Corporation  on  a  royalty  basis  for  25  years,  the  payments  amount- 
ing to  tens  of  millions  of  dollars. 

There  are  many  other  notable  names  that  should  be  added  to  this 
list  of  master-builders,  such  as  Rockefeller  and  his  organization  of  the  oil 
fields ;  Spreckles,  who  opened  the  market  for  Hawaiian  sugar  to  the  United 
States;  Havemeyer,  who  organized  the  sugar  industries;  Arbuckle,  who 
organized  the  coffee  markets;  Hearst,  who  developed  the  gold  and  silver 
mines  of  the  West;  Plant,  who  developed  Florida  and  Cuba  to  com- 
merce— and  a  list  of  thousands  of  other  men  of  affairs  whose  financial 
genius  forged  new  roads  for  progress  on  the  American  continent.  It  is 
not  possible  here  to  make  economic  deductions  into  the  effect  of  the  genius 
of  these  men  on  American  civilization,  but  it  is  sufficient  to  state  that 
finance  is  the  power  behind  progress.  It  develops  many  economic  prob- 
lems that  require  constant  readjustment  to  restrain  the  power  of  finance 
from  becoming  despotic;  it  has  its  dangers  and  its  incalculable  benefits  to 
civilization,  but  under  control  it  is  the  genius  that  has  not  only  developed 
this  nation,  but  is  reconstructing  the  world. 

420 


PART  V  CHAPTER  XVII 


GREAT  AMERICAN  AUTHORS 


"Books  are  the  legacies  that  a  great  genius  leaves  to  mankind,  which 
are  delivered  down  from  generation  to  generation,  as  presents  to  the  pos- 
terity of  those  who  are  yet  unborn." — Addison. 


BOOKS — not  nations — are  the  world's  greatest  democracies.     The 
republic  of  letters  knows  neither  monarch  nor  serf.     The  poor 
man  becomes  rich  in  his  knowledge  of  books — the  rich  man  be- 
comes poor  in  his  lack  of  knowledge  of  books — the  whole  world 
meets  on  common  ground  in  the  printed  pages  of  literature.     "All  that 
mankind  has  done,  thought,  fained  or  been,"  says  Carlyle,  "is  lying  as  in 
magic  preservation  in  the  pages  of  books.     They  are  the  chosen  possession 
of  men." 

"God  be  thanked  for  books,"  said  Channing  in  his  essay  on  "self- 
culture."  "Books  are  the  true  levelers.  They  give  to  all,  who  will  faith- 
fully use  them,  the  society,  the  spiritual  presence  of  the  best  and  noblest  of 
our  race.  No  matter  how  poor  I  am,  no  matter  though  the  prosperous  of 
my  own  time  will  not  enter  my  obscure  dwelling.  If  the  sacred  writers 
will  enter  and  take  up  their  abode  under  my  roof,  if  Milton  will  cross  my 
threshold  to  sing  to  me  of  Paradise,  and  Shakespeare,  to  open  to  me  the 
worlds  of  imagination  and  the  workings  of  the  human  heart,  and  Franklin 
to  enrich  me  with  his  practical  wisdom,  I  shall  not  pine  for  want  of  intel- 
lectual companionship,  and  I  may  become  a  cultivated  man  though  excluded 
from  what  is  called  the  best  society,  in  the  place  where  I  live.  ...  It  is 
chiefly  through  books  that  we  enjoy  intercourse  with  superior  minds,  and 
these  invaluable  means  of  communication  are  within  reach  of  all.  In  the 
best  books,  great  men  talk  to  us,  give  us  their  most  precious  thoughts,  and 
pour  their  souls  into  ours." 

Here  in  America  we  have  all  the  material  for  great  literature.  The 
drama  of  human  life  moves  rapidly;  human  emotions  are  unloosed  on  a 
vast  stage  of  action ;  the  ambitions  and  loves  of  men,  the  tragedies  and  com- 
medies  of  existence  are  all  enacted  in  everyday  American  life.  The  nerv- 
ous energy  is  here;  the  physical  power,  the  spiritual  force.  We  have  not 
yet  passed  through  our  "Elizabethan  Age"  but  we  have  already  given  to 
the  world  some  of  its  noblest  thoughts.  For  some  200  years,  from  1607  to 
1800,  America  followed  the  English  writing  in  prose  or  poetry.  It  was  in 
theology  that  she  first  demonstrated  strength  and  power.  And  then  sud- 

421 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

denly,  within  a  few  years,  she  gave  to  the  world  several  men  of  genius, 
genuinely  American,  whose  every  word  bore  the  unmistakable  stamp  of  the 
New  World. 

American  literature,  as  distinguished  from  English  literature,  begins 
with  Irving' s  books.  As  an  essayist,  he  was  still  a  follower  of  the  English 
tradition.  But  in  his  legends  of  the  Hudson  and  his  Knickerbocker  history 
we  find  that  which  is  not  only  rich  of  the  soil  but  which  was  at  the  time 
absolutely  new  in  literature.  The  Knickerbocker  is  the  source  of  American 
humor.  There  Irving  gave  us  imaginary  histories  based  upon  the  most 
careful  and  inimitable  satire  of  real  heroic  achievements.  His  Legends 
were  even  more  original.  Not  only  were  the  characters  and  the  romance 
purely  American  but  they  had  a  flavor  belonging  solely  to  the  life  of  this 
continent.  Irving  earned  fame  not  only  in  his  own  country  but  beyond  the 
seas.  Then  came  Fenimore  Cooper,  his  junior  by  about  six  years.  Cooper 
not  only  used  American  material,  but  material  which  had  never  been  used 
before  by  any  writer.  In  his  characteristic  studies  of  the  aborigines  and 
their  sturdy  enemies,  the  first  pioneers,  the  American  wilderness,  lakes, 
mountains,  prairies,  the  vast  savagery  of  the  new  continent  began  to  live  in 
literature  as  essential  parts  of  the  new  creation.  There  is  about  his  books 
such  a  genuine  note  of  virgin  life  that  they  carry  conviction  wherever  they 
happen  to  be  read,  be  it  in  London  or  Paris — in  Persia  or  in  any  part  of  the 
world  where  men  appreciate  primitive  passions. 

The  first  world-renowned  master,  however,  is  Edgar  Allan  Poe  ( 1809- 
1849),  the  Ishmael  of  American  letters.  It  has  been  said  that  he  was  not 
typical  of  America,  but  his  fate  at  least  was  typical  of  the  fate  of  any 
daring  poet  in  his  days.  Nowhere  else  would  he  have  evolved  such  a  deep 
psychology  of  life  by  the  very  loneliness  to  which  his  strange  genius  doomed 
him.  He  had  the  sensitiveness  of  genius,  the  pride  of  a  gentleman,  and  yet 
he  was  compelled  to  accept  charity  from  a  world  in  which  there  was  no 
place  for  a  poet  unless  he  could  be  a  teacher  like  Longfellow  or  could  con- 
duct a  newspaper  as  did  Bryant.  Wandering  from  town  to  town,  mis- 
understood of  all,  battling  with  starvation,  watching  the  woman  whom  he 
idolized  die  without  food  and  clothing,  he  might  have  been  in  the  Old 
World  one  more  grotesque  figure  added  to  the  gallery  of  Bohemians.  In 
the  rough,  indifferent  New  World  he  was  a  pathetic  and  tragic  figure. 
In  one  respect  he  was  thoroughly,  typically  American.  America's  most  sig- 
nificant contribution  to  the  world's  literature  is  the  short  story.  Whatever 
honor  is  due  to  us  on  that  account  should  be  offered  to  Poe,  who  much  more 
than  Irving  carried  that  literary  genre  to  the  highest  degree  of  perfection. 

America's  household  poet  is  Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow  (1807- 
1882),  the  most  widely  known  and  quoted  of  American  authors.  While 

422 


<U\NT    I'OKKSTS   OF  CALIFORNIA — These  gigantic  trees  along  the  Yosemito  Valley  are  the  largest 
to  be  found  on  the  earth— This  Is  one  of  the  natural  curiosities  of  America,  with  its 
canyon,  cascades  and  famous  trees, 


GREAT  AMERICAN  AUTHORS 

he  was  still  living  the  school  children  began  to  celebrate  his  birthday  and 
there  are  few  schools  in  this  country  where  the  2jth  of  February  passes 
without  some  commemoration  of  the  poet's  services  to  letters.  Longfellow 
reflects  not  the  froth  and  surface  agitation  of  life,  but  its  serene  flow  and  its 
soulful  undercurrents.  His  first  book  appeared  in  1839  at  the  beginning 
of  the  turmoil  about  slavery;  in  his  last  volume  in  1882  the  wounds  of  the 
conflict  were  healed.  In  the  midst  of  our  greatest  political  strife,  Long- 
fellow sang  the  legends  that  united  North  and  South  in  the  pride  of  a 
common  country.  "Evangeline,"  "The  Courtship  of  Miles  Standish," 
"Hiawatha,"  are  full  of  understanding  and  sympathy  for  the  people  of  all 
races  and  all  times.  Longfellow  avoided  the  cold  impassibility  of  Bryant 
and  the  morbidity  of  Poe.  In  spite  of  his  scholarly  interests  and  associates, 
of  his  long  training  as  a  teacher  of  literature,  he  took  his  subjects  near  at 
hand,  indifferent  to  the  disparaging  criticism  that  he  was  the  "poet  of  the 
commonplace."  By  showing  the  poetic  side  of  American  history,  he  has 
opened  a  mine  of  literary  material  out  of  which  other  poets  were  to  bring 
greater  treasures. 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  figure  America  has  given  to  the  world  of 
letters  is  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  (1803-1882).  The  difficulty  of  charac- 
terizing him  in  a  short  sketch  is  suggested  by  the  titles  which  his  admirers 
gave  him.  To  some  he  was  the  western  Buddha,  to  others  the  Yankee 
Shelley,  to  others  the  epitome  of  Puritan  idealism  and  independence. 
George  Eliot  spoke  of  him  as  "the  first  man  I  have  ever  seen."  All  his  life 
long,  he  was  a  preacher  of  high  ideals.  The  nobility  of  his  life  gave  force 
to  every  word  which  he  uttered.  As  lecturer,  poet  and  essayist,  his  greatest 
service  was  to  stimulate  thought  without  ever  arousing  his  readers'  or  his 
hearers'  antagonism.  A  clergyman,  he  disdained  theology  and  church  his- 
tory ;  a  naturalist,  he  never  studied  science ;  a  writer  on  art  and  literature — 
in  everything  he  relied  on  intuition.  What  interested  him  most  in  life  was 
individual  effort  and  accomplishment.  His  prestige  was  due  to  his  man- 
hood— the  fact  that  he  was  such  a  splendid  individual,  whose  absolute 
independence  might  have  led  him  into  dangerous  paths  had  he  not  been 
always  saved  from  error  by  his  wonderful  mental  and  moral  integrity. 

Another  powerful  individualist,  whose  genius  Emerson  was  the  first  to 
recognize,  was  Walt  Whitman  (1819-1892).  Printer,  teacher,  carpenter, 
idler,  reporter,  editor,  Whitman  led  a  picturesque  life.  In  his  36th  year, 
he  published  his  "Leaves  of  Grass."  This  book  has  been  acclaimed  by  all 
the  foreign  critics  as  the  highest  form  of  original  literary  art  ever  written 
in  the  New  World — a  poet  typical  of  the  American  continent.  American 
critics,  on  the  other  hand,  are  divided  in  their  opinion  of  that  work.  They 
are  astounded  by  his  brutality,  by  his  vigor,  which  cares  little  for  what  is 

425 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

generally  called  delicacy  of  expression.  It  is  contended  by  his  devotees 
that  Whitman  is  America's  greatest  poet,  the  true  bard  of  Democracy. 
They  point  out  that,  in  contrast  to  all  the  other  poets  of  this  land,  he  alone 
has  created  entirely  his  own  rhythm,  his  own  meter,  and  his  own  vocabu- 
lary; that  he  owes  nothing  to  Old  World  masters  and  thinkers;  that  his  sub- 
ject always  was  the  power,  the  greatness,  the  immensity  of  his  native  land; 
that  he  has  felt  and  expressed  more  clearly  than  any  other  American  writer 
the  wonderful  qualities  of  the  new  race  which  was  being  created  in  the 
great  "Melting  Pot"  of  the  world;  that,  after  the  stifling  influence  of  Puri- 
tanism, he  had  rendered  a  signal  service  in  singing  in  the  healthy  physical 
life  of  a  new  continent  of  nature,  unembellished  by  poetical  adornment. 

A  man  apart  in  American  literature,  a  solitary  genius  whose  methods 
were  so  exclusively  his  own  that  it  is  impossible  to  compare  him  with  any 
other  writer,  is  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  (1804-1864).  His  style,  preten- 
tious but  artistic,  was  always  in  harmony  with  his  subject.  He  wrote 
largely  of  the  Puritans  from  whom  he  was  descended  and  whose  moral 
make-up  he  reflected  in  a  large  measure.  His  "Scarlet  Letter"  was  the  first 
great  American  novel.  This,  and  his  other  books,  reflected  his  aloofness 
from  his  contemporaries,  his  brooding  contemplation  of  the  past.  He  had 
no  literary  friendship;  he  reveals  himself  very  little  in  his  writings.  More 
at  home  with  historical  figures  than  with  die  living  people  who  surrounded 
him,  he  gave  to  literature  a  type  which  no  one  had  attempted  to  sketch — 
the  Puritan.  His  creation  of  that  type  was  very  romantic ;  he  emphasized  the 
Puritan's  idealism,  his  superb  faith,  his  constant  brooding  over  the  question 
of  sin  and  of  expiation.  His  neglect  of  contemporary  life,  his  indifference 
to  the  modern  energy  make  him  the  classicist  among  American  authors. 

America's  great  humorist,  and  one  of  the  most  pronounced  geniuses  of 
his  times,  was  Mark  Twain  (1835-1910).  He  was  at  heart  a  reformer 
and  a  hater  of  shams.  In  ridiculing  real  or  fancied  wrongs,  he  displays 
an  amazing  dramatic  vigor.  His  wandering  life  which  took  him  every- 
where from  miners'  shacks  to  millionaires'  drawing-rooms  gave  him  a  very 
keen  insight  into  human  psychology.  It  is  not  altogether  an  exaggeration 
when  he  tells  us  that  he  met  on  the  Mississippi  the  duplicate  of  every  im- 
portant character  in  history,  biography,  and  fiction.  His  "Life  on  the 
Mississippi"  will  probably  remain  his  greatest  claim  to  glory. 

There  were  Prescott  (1796-1859),  Bancroft,  Motley  and  Parkman, 
and  of  these  we  chose  Prescott.  He  had  not  the  monumental  form  of 
Bancroft,  the  fire  of  Motley,  nor  the  intimate  touch  of  Parkman,  and  he 
was  without  the  humor  of  Irving.  But  Prescott  is  superior  to  all  the  former 
in  poise  of  judgment  and  distinction.  His  "Conquest  of  Mexico"  is  a  his- 
torical work,  whose  literary  excellence  is  without  an  equal.  Prescott 

426 


GREAT  AMERICAN  AUTHORS 

wrote  history  with  a  historical  exactness  and  literary  artistry  that  even 
Greene,  and  Gibbons,  and  Froude,  and  Mommsen  do  not  maintain.  Pres- 
cott,  like  Hawthorne  because  of  his  style,  has  won  for  himself  an  immortal 
place  in  English  speech.  His  books  have  been  translated  into  all  the  great 
European  languages,  his  style  retains  its  charm.  But  only  the  English 
reader  can  appreciate  the  beauty  and  fitness  of  the  diction,  Prescott  is 
elegant  without  being  florid,  and  yet  musical  and  full  of  vigor.  The 
periods  and  the  characters  selected  by  Prescott  abound  with  the  romantic; 
and  whether  we  review  the  fortunes  of  the  patrons  (Isabella  and  Ferdi- 
nand) of  Columbus,  or  follow  the  banners  of  Spain  to  the  halls  of  Monte- 
zuma  or  to  the  home  of  the  Incas,  we  cannot  move  a  step  without  treading 
on  enchanting  ground.  Yet  the  author  does  not  strain  after  picturesque 
effects  like  Lamartine.  And  he  wrote  his  three  great  histories:  "Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella,"  "Philip  II,"  and  "The  Conquest  of  Mexico"  under 
the  great  physical  infirmity  of  partial  and  at  times  total  blindness, 
but  there  was  never  a  moment  that  there  did  not  emanate  from  him  a 
gayety  of  spirit.  It  was  this  affliction  that  diverted  him  from  law  to  lit- 
erature and  gave  to  the  world  one  of  its  greatest  literary  historians. 

William  Cullen  Bryant  (1794-1878)  was  the  father  of  American 
poetry,  that  is  he  was  the  first  man  in  the  Western  Hemisphere  to  write 
verse  that  compared  favorably  with  much  of  the  verse  of  Wordsworth, 
Keats,  Coleridge  and  Shelley,  though  in  stature  it  is  not  claimed  that  he 
measured  up  to  any  one  of  these.  He  wrote  "Thanatopsis"  his  greatest 
poem  at  seventeen.  His  father,  without  the  son's  knowledge,  sent  this 
poem  with  others  to  Willard  Phillips,  the  editor  of  the  North  American  Re- 
view>  then  published  in  Boston.  Phillips  was  so  amazed  at  the  great  merit 
of  the  poem  (and  not  knowing  who  wrote  it)  that  he  hurried  to  Cambridge 
to  show  it  to  his  associate  editors,  Richard  H.  Dana  and  Edward  T.  Chan- 
ning.  When  Dana  heard  the  poem  read,  he  smilingly  said :  "Oh,  Phil- 
lips, you  have  been  imposed  upon.  No  man  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  is 
capable  of  writing  such  verse."  His  remark  at  the  time  was  most  natural 
for  America  had  produced  only  three  one-poem  poets  and  no  more,  John 
Howard  Payne,  the  author  of  "Home,  Sweet  Home,"  Francis  Scott  Key 
with  his  "Star-Spangled  Banner"  and  Joseph  Hopkinson  of  "Hail,  Colum- 
bia" fame  and  these  poems  would  have  been  long  since  forgotten  but  for  the 
music  written  to  them.  In  Bryant,  America  entered  the  Hall  of  Parnasus 
and  took  its  seat  with  the  gods.  But  to  the  present  generation  of  Amer- 
icans, Bryant  is  an  Ossian  ghost  almost  as  remote  as  Homer.  He  never 
acquired  the  popularity  of  Longfellow,  though  when  his  "Thanatopsis"  and 
"Water-fowl"  appeared  they  were  read  with  eagerness  and  delight  by  al- 
most every  man,  woman  and  child  in  New  England.  "Thanatopsis"  is 

427 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

Puritan  New  England  to  the  soul,  and  that  is  why  it  is  not  to-day  read  in 
America,  for  the  last  thing  Americans  now  think  of  is  death,  that  is  death 
as  Bryant  described  it  in  his  sonorous  verse.  Bryant's  mental  defect  as  a 
poet  was  his  lack  of  emotion.  He  is  too  self -con  trolled  for  a  race  of  men 
who  live  in  laughter  and  tears. 

Bret  Harte  (1839-1902)  would  still  have  been  a  genius  and  a  great 
writer  if  gold  had  never  been  discovered  in  California,  but  the  man  and  the 
opportunity  met  on  the  Pacific  Coast  on  the  heels  of  the  Forty-Niners. 
Harte  did  not  spin  out  his  characters  from  his  own  brain  like  the  great 
novelists.  Like  Kipling  in  his  novel  writing  he  failed,  but  no  writer  has 
ever  seen  with  a  clearer  vision  the  workings  of  character  and  of  human 
nature  in  the  men  and  women  about  him  under  unique  conditions.  There 
was  never  before  and  there  will  probably  never  again  be  such  a  chapter  in 
human  history  as  that  narrative  of  the  gold  fever  in  California.  Had 
there  not  been  a  historian  of  the  human  heart  like  Harte  on  the  spot,  the 
world  of  letters  would  indeed  be  poorer  now.  The  average  man  knows  not 
what  his  most  intimate  friend  would  do  under  any  and  all  circumstances, 
but  Bret  Hafte  always  knew  what  all  whom  he  met  would  do  and  his  gift 
to  describe  each  and  every  character's  actions  was  always  both  full  and 
perennial.  Harte  had  the  sentiment  of  Dickens,  though  it  was  not  so 
morbidly  developed,  and  the  satire  of  Thackeray,  though  it  was  not  of  such 
rapier-like  edge.  He  scorned  hypocrisy,  and  especially  the  hypocrisy  of 
Puritanism,  with  an  intensity  that  few  artists  have  ever  been  able  to  put 
into  words.  But  it  is  for  Harte's  sentiment,  his  pathos  and  humor,  that 
the  world  will  read  him  and  ever  love  him.  Ages  ago  an  eastern  sage  said 
he  would  like  to  write  a  book  that  every  one  should  conceive  that  he  mi^ht 
have  written  himself,  and  yet  so  good  that  no  one  else  could  have  written 
the  like.  Bret  Harte  is  said  to  have  fulfilled  this  ideal.  There  is  a  choice 
of  words,  a  balance  of  sentences  and  a  rhythm  of  paragraph  that  very  nearly 
approach  perfection  in  the  literary  art.  In  conciseness,  in  artistic  restraint, 
he  is  declared  the  equal  of  Turgenieff,  Hawthorne  and  Newman.  Because 
Bret  Harte  was  so  essentially  an  artist  in  every  fibre  of  his  being,  he  left 
California  when  society  had  settled  down  there  and  became  commonplace. 
The  whole  country  was  growing  alike  and  he  could  find  no  place  that  suited 
him  but  London.  His  best  story,  he  said,  is  "Tennessee's  Partner." 
"The  Idyl  of  Red  Gulch"  and  "The  Rose  of  Tuolumne"  are  two  of  the 
finest  pieces  of  work  of  the  kind  in  all  imaginative  literature.  And  who, 
that  has  read  him,  will  ever  forget  "Colonel  Starbottle"  *? 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  (1809-1894)  was  one  of  the  purest  American 
types  of  temperament  and  mind.  To  recall  him  brings  back  the  most  gifted 
group  of  men  of  letters  that  have  ever  appeared  in  this  country.  Of  this 

428 


HISTORIC   PALISADES   ALONG    THE    HUDSON — These    rocky    cliffs,    broken    and   fantastic 
appearance,  are  considered  the  most  picturesque  in  the  world — The  walls  of  rock  rise 
about  500  feet  in  height  and  extend  about  fifteen  miles  along  western  bank  of  river. 


in 


LANDMARKS  OF  AMERICAN   LEGENDS — The   Hudson   River  occupies  an  important  place  In 

American  literature  and  art — Washington  Irving  immortalized  its  charming  villages — Poets 

have  lived  along  its  shores — Artists  receive  inspiration  from  the  magnificent  scenery. 


— 


GREAT  AMERN  AN  AT  TIIORS  -This  rare  engraving  bv  Chappell  is  entitled  "The  Literary  Party  at  the  Home 

of  \\ashiiiKton  Irving"— Irving  Is  seated  with  kerchief  in  hand— Facing  him,  with  extended  Uuud,  is  J. 

ieuimore  Cooper.     Among  the  others  are  many  noted  authors. 


AMERICA'S  CONTRIBUTORS  TO  WORLD'S  LETTERS— Standing  at  extreme   left  is    Hawthorne— Seated   in 
rront  of  him  is  Longfellow — Standing  in  centre  of  group    is    I'rescott        Seated    in    front    of    him    is 
Bryant.      Under  the  bust  of  Shakespeare  Is  Emerson. 


LARGEST  RIVEK   STEAMSHIPS  IN  THE  WORLD — The  magnificent  steamboats  of  the  Hudson 

River  Day  Line  accommodate  (>. 000  passengers  on  a  single  voyage — Travelers  from  all  parts 

of  the  earth  make  this  historic  journey — They  pass  through  a  beautiful  country. 


ALONG   THE    HIGHLANDS   OF   THE    HUDSON — Here   we   pass   the   stately    military   structures 

crowning  the  hills  at  West  Point — The  river    Is  navigable  for  117  miles  from  the  ocean 

— Its  whole  length  is  about  300  miles,  nearly  every  foot  of  which  is  historic. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  AUTHORS 

group  Dr.  Holmes  remains  the  freshest  and  the  most  perennial.  He  is  still 
with  us  in  his  boundless  humanity  and  sympathy.  A  learned  man  he 
was,  but  he  could  write  pathos  with  humor  in  admirable  combination  and 
controlled  by  perfect  taste  and  kindliness.  He  could  poke  fun  at  his  "Un- 
married Aunt"  but  no  one  loves  her  the  less.  His  humor  was  never  wit  and 
was  always  without  sting.  It  was  his  "Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table" 
that  made  the  Atlantic  Monthly  a  great  magazine  from  the  beginning. 

"The  Bigelow  Papers"  made  for  James  Russell  Lowell  (1819-1891)' 
a  name  sui  generis  to  the  world  of  letters.  As  Emerson  stood  for  American 
thought  so  has  Lowell  become  our  representative  man  of  letters.  He  at- 
tained that  position  not  so  much  as  an  indomitable  writer  nor  chiefly  as  a 
poet  but  from  being  the  best  equipped  all-around  writer  and  man  of  letters 
this  country  has  ever  produced.  His  acquirements,  his  versatile  writings, 
the  conditions  of  his  life,  the  mold  of  the  man,  and  the  spirit  of  his  whole 
work  have  given  him  a  peculiar  distinction.  He  stands  out  in  our  history 
not  only  as  a  man  of  letters,  but  as  an  exemplar  of  culture,  a  citizen  of  the 
world,  and  a  better  American,  because  he  was  also  a  cosmopolitan.  And 
the  beauty  and  excellence  of  the  man  were  that  in  him  was  the  true  Amer- 
ica. In  his  poetry  he  wrought  to  unite  the  human  and  the  divine  and  give 
a  word  of  hope  to  men. 

John  Greenleaf  Whittier  (1807-1892)  was  pre-eminently  the  poet 
of  New  England.  There  has  indeed  been  no  New  England  poet  for  whom 
New  England  itself  has  not  largely  furnished  material  and  inspiration. 
But  Whittier's  poetry  in  the  essence  attempted  an  appeal  as  wide  as  the 
nation  and  the  race.  In  a  group  of  distinguished  critics  shortly  after  the 
close  of  the  Civil  War,  Horace  Greeley  was  asked  who  was  the  best  Amer- 
ican poet  and  he  at  once  replied  with  the  name  of  Whittier  and  for  once  all 
were  in  accord.  It  was  discovered  that  Whittier  at  that  time  most  nearly 
satisfied  the  poetic  needs  of  the  typical,  vigorous  American.  The  English 
who  studied  him  at  that  time  to  get  at  the  soul  of  America,  pronounced 
him  the  most  "national  and  most  characteristic"  of  all  our  writers  in  his 
extraordinary  fluency,  narrow  experience  and  wide  sympathy,  which  meant 
to  the  average  Englishman,  loquacity,  provincialism,  and  generosity  of 
heart.  Whittier  was  great  for  his  time  and  he  served  well  the  purpose  for 
which  he  sang.  If  his  song  was  never  that  of  the  people  at  large,  it  sought 
to  remove  that  which  separated  the  country  into  sections.  Therefore,  with 
his  pen,  he  helped  make  America  what  it  now  is — a  nation,  in  will,  feel- 
ing and  emotion.  He  played  a  great  part  in  our  Civil  Reformation.  He 
surpassed  Longfellow  in  force  and  in  truth  for  he  was  no  imitator  of  the 
Old  World.  Whittier  belongs  with  Greeley  and  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe 
in  his  work  for  Abolition. 

433 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

An  Englishman  who  packs  his  grip  to  this  day,  we  are  told,  puts  in  it 
a  copy  of  Artemus  Ward's  lectures.  As  popular  as  this  first  of  Ameri- 
can humorists  was  in  America  fifty  years  ago,  he  was  more  popular  in 
England,  and  is  still  a  prince  of  American  humorists.  In  his  own  coun- 
try his  fame  was  somewhat  obscured  by  the  growing  reputation  of  Mark 
Twain  and  other  humorists.  Artemus  Ward's  humor  has  spontaneity, 
warmth,  color,  richness,  purity  and  sweetness.  He  made  his  first  repu- 
tation as  a  humorist  on  the  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  and  for  a  few  years,  or 
from  about  1863  to  his  death,  he  lectured  in  America  and  England,  con- 
vulsing the  sides  of  more  people  than  any  other  speaker  who  had  ever  occu- 
pied the  lecture  platform. 

The  realm  of  Southern  folklore  gave  to  us  Joel  Chandler  Harris 
(1848-1898).  His  Uncle  Remus'  stones  are  more  than  a  collection  of 
folk  stories,  but  rather  a  revelation  of  the  soul  of  the  humbler  classes  of 
American  negroes.  In  the  gay  adventures  of  Br'er  Rabbit,  who  typifies  the 
triumph  of  weakness  and  mischief  over  strength,  we  see  a  reflection  of  a 
race  that  could  laugh  and  be  happy  in  a  condition  of  slavery.  Uncle 
Remus  is  a  real  artistic  creation,  a  character  that  will  live.  Human, 
lovable,  he  has  endeared  himself  to  millions. 

The  "Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic"  and  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  entitle 
Mrs.  Julia  Ward  Howe  and  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  respectively  to 
honored  places  among  great  American  authors.  If  Thomas  Nelson  Page 
had  never  written  anything  but  "Mars  Chan,"  he  would  have  well  earned 
for  himself  the  membership  to  such  company.  James  Whitcomb  Riley, 
the  Hoosier  poet,  belongs  here  too.  There  was  Timrod  and  Lanier  of  the 
South  in  the  past.  They  too  sang  for  the  world. 

Modern  American  literature  is  rich  in  great  names  but  almost  every 
one  of  those  great  names  is  that  of  a  novelist.  We  have  many  modern 
poets,  but  this  Twentieth  Century  does  not  seem  to  inspire  either  the  perfec- 
tion of  Longfellow  or  the  strength  of  Walt  Whitman.  The  work  of  our 
dramatists  also  seems  to  present  contemporary  themes  without  intent  of 
preserving  them  in  book  form.  Our  fiction  writers,  however,  exhibit  the 
qualities  which  have  always  been  praised  in  the  work  of  the  great  European 
novelists. 

The  movement  in  fiction  began  with  Henry  James  and  William  Dean 
Howells,  two  extremes.  Henry  James,  who  spent  most  of  his  life  abroad 
and  became  a  British  subject,  likes  to  depict  some  American  whose  crudities 
or  peculiarities  are  thrown  into  strong  relief  against  the  background  of  a 
more  formal  European  life.  He  analyzes  the  most  tenuous  psychological 
motives.  HowelPs  psychology  on  the  contrary  gives  us  for  the  first  time 
a  faithful  picture  of  the  American  in  his  natural  environment,  a  picture 

434 


GREAT  AMERICAN  AUTHORS 

which  is  neither  idealized  by  a  patriotic  bias  nor  distorted  by  snobbery.  It 
is  especially  as  a  painter  of  American  society  "in  the  making"  that  HowelPs 
will  endure  in  this  country  and  abroad. 

Most  notable  among  the  more  modern  writers  of  virile  American  life 
are  Jack  London,  Edith  Wharton,  Frank  Norris,  Robert  Herrick,  Winston 
Churchill.  London  sounded  a  purely  American  and  extremely  original  and 
powerful  note  in  his  first  book,  the  best  known  of  which  is  perhaps  the 
"Call  of  the  Wild,"  depicting  the  lure  and  mystery  of  the  Northland  and 
the  rough  energetic  life  of  that  region.  Edith  Wharton  wrote  the  epic  of 
New  England  in  her  sober,  gloomy  masterpiece,  "Ethan  Frome,"  Norris 
in  "The  Octopus"  tells  a  powerful  tale  of  California  at  the  time  of  the  great 
railroad  expansion.  It  is  also  one  of  the  first  economic  reform  novels,  ex- 
posing the  wrong  from  gigantic  industrial  enterprises.  Winston  Churchill 
is  perhaps  the  most  truly  American  novelist  of  the  times,  depicting  as  he 
does  the  sturdy  American  characters  in  the  various  epochs  of  our  national 
life  with  a  firm  hand  and  keen  understanding  of  the  underlying  psychology 
of  American  institutions,  especially  in  matters  of  church  and  state. 

Literature  has  reached  a  very  democratic  stage  in  America.  More 
persons  are  engaged  in  the  profession  of  writing,  and  more  books  and  stories 
are  being  published  in  America  to-day  than  in  any  other  nation  in  the  world, 
or  than  at  any  other  time  in  the  world's  history.  But,  as  Voltaire  said, 
"It  is  with  books  as  with  men;  a  very  small  number  play  a  great  part;  the 
rest  are  confounded  with  the  multitude." 

The  love  of  beauty  is  inherent  in  the  human  race;  it  waits  only  the 
opportunity  for  expression.  Our  hands  and  minds  have  been  fully  occu- 
pied in  the  building  of  trans-continental  railroads :  in  each  of  these  there  is 
a  great  poem ;  every  stroke  of  the  axe  has  been  an  immortal  elegy.  Greater 
poets  than  ever  wrote  a  sonnet  in  the  Elizabethan  Age  have  been  blasting 
the  mountains  to  make  way  for  the  whirring  wheels  of  commerce.  The 
large  purring,  puffing  locomotive  is  an  ode  to  triumph.  The  swiftly  mov- 
ing electric  train  is  a  lyric  to  power.  The  great  modern  towers  of  Babel 
are  idylls  to  valor.  The  mediums  of  expression  may  differ,  but  the  instinc- 
tive ability  of  man  to  create  from  his  imagination  always  is  with  us. 

The  day  will  come  when  the  Americans  shall  rest  from  their  labors 
and  give  full  expression  to  their  inherent  love  for  the  finer  arts  through  the 
more  leisurely  and  conventional  mediums  of  genius — then  we  shall  picture 
and  paint,  and  mold  and  relate  forms  of  rarer  beauty  than  the  world  has 
yet  seen. 


435 


PART  V  CHAPTER  XVIII 

GREAT  AMERICAN  ARTISTS 


"The  Fine  Arts  are  those  which  have  primarily  to  do  with  the  imagination 
and  taste,  and  are  applied  to  the  production  of  what  is  beautiful." 

— Webster. 


A 


**  A  RT  is  the  effort  of  man  to  express  the  ideas  which  nature  sug- 
gests to  him  of  a  power  above  nature,  whether  that  power 
be  within  the  recesses  of  his  own  being,  or  in  the  Great  First 
Cause  of  which  nature,  like  himself,  is  but  the  effect."  This 
is  the  definition  given  by  Lytton  in  one  of  his  essays.  It  is  Irving  who 
adapts  this  to  the  American  nationality  when  he  adds:  "In  America, 
literature  and  the  elegant  arts  must  grow  up  side  by  side  with  the  coarser 
plants  of  daily  necessity." 

It  is  frequently  charged  by  Europeans  that  we  Americans  are  wholly 
a  material  people;  that  we  are  producers  of  wealth,  but  not  producers  of 
art.  There  could  be  no  falser  falsehood.  "Art,"  Emerson  said,  "is  na- 
ture with  man's  will  applied  thereto" — and  here  in  America  we  are  laying 
the  foundation  for  the  truest  art  that  the  world  has  ever  known.  It  is 
quite  true  that  during  the  first  epochs  in  our  national  life  we  have  been 
directing  our  larger  energies  to  lay  the  material  foundation  for  the  great 
stnicture  that  we  are  erecting — a  structure  of  society  that  gives  every  indi- 
cation of  contributing  more  liberally  to  the  Fine  Arts  than  any  system  of 
society  under  which  mankind  has  ever  worked. 

The  love  of  beauty  is  inherent  in  the  human  race — and  American 
nationality  is  but  a  composite  of  all  the  races  of  the  earth,  an  embodiment 
of  their  hopes  and  ambitions.  The  foundation  is  laid  solidly,  and  upon 
this  we  are  to  erect  the  edifice  of  American  Art.  Let  us  survey  our  ma- 
terials. The  first  centuries  in  the  history  of  America  were  devoted  to 
securing  for  the  settlers  the  prime  necessities  of  life;  all  the  energies  of  the 
time  were  spent  in  practical  pursuits,  and  consequently  the  arts  were  long 
neglected  by  the  sturdy  pioneers.  Then  came  the  colonial  period  and 
the  Revolution,  during  which  British  influences  prevailed  in  the  New 
World,  with  an  inclination  to  follow  the  Italians. 

Great  events  always  produce  the  man — latent  genius  is  inspired  by 
social  convulsions.  Thus,  from  the  American  Revolution  and  the  first 
struggles  of  our  national  existence  there  arose  the  first  American  school 
of  art,  which  in  its  originality  and  skill  has  left  its  permanent  impression 

436 


LARGEST  RIVERS  IN   WESTERN  AMERICA     Along  tbe  Columbia  or  Oregon  River;  with  its  branches 

it  has  2,132  miles  of  navigable  waters — It  drains  an  area  larger  than  the  German  Empire 

In  Europe — The  cliff  is  Cape  Horn. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  ARTISTS 

on  the  art  world.  There  came  forth  a  group  of  men  with  brilliant  imagina- 
tions and  the  artisan's  skill — West,  Copley,  Trumbull,  Stuart,  Allston, 
the  Peaks,  and  Sully. 

We  can  linger  but  a  few  moments  over  these  painters  and  their  easels. 
The  first  of  the  American  painters  was  Benjamin  West,  the  Pennsylvanian 
(1738-1820).  After  some  instruction  he  painted  "The  Death  of  So- 
crates'* for  a  gunsmith,  and  established  himself  as  a  portrait  painter  in 
Philadelphia  at  five  guineas  per  portrait.  Soon  he  visited  Rome  and 
painted  "Cimon  and  Iphigenia"  and  "Angelica  and  Medora."  He  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Academies  of  Florence,  Bologna,  and  Parma,  and 
finally  settled  in  England,  where  he  painted  a  historical  canvas  of  "Agrip- 
pina  Landing  with  the  Ashes  of  Germanicus,"  for  the  Archbishop  of 
York,  who  introduced  him  to  George  III.  The  king  became  his  steadfast 
patron  and  for  many  years  gave  him  commissions.  He  was  appointed 
in  1772  historical  painter  to  the  king  and  later  surveyor  of  the  royal  pic- 
tures. 

Benjamin  West  was  one  of  four  selected  to  draw  up  a  plan  of  the 
Royal  Academy  and  was  one  of  its  original  members.  There  he  exhibited 
his  painting,  "The  Death  of  General  Wolfe,"  departing  from  the  custom 
of  the  artists  of  the  day  of  giving  the  characters  Greek  or  Roman  costumes. 
It  was  then  that  Reynolds,  who  had  endeavored  to  dissuade  him,  said,  "I 
retract  my  objections.  I  foresee  that  this  picture  will  not  only  become  one 
of  the  most  popular,  but  will  occasion  a  revolution  in  art."  West  painted 
a  series  of  historical  works  for  Windsor  Castle ;  also  a  series  on  the  progress 
of  revealed  religion — antediluvian,  patriarchal,  Mosaic,  and  prophetic — 
for  the  chapel.  This  American,  on  the  death  of  Reynolds  in  1792,  was 
unanimously  elected  president  of  the  Royal  Academy.  He  continued  to 
devote  his  genius  to  religious  and  historical  subjects  on  very  large  can- 
vases, and  among  them  we  find  "Christ  Healing  the  Sick"  (in  the  National 
Gallery),  the  "Crucifixion,"  the  "Ascension,"  and  "Death  on  the  Pale 
Horse"  (Pennsylvania  Academy).  The  "Battle  of  La  Hogue"  is  con- 
sidered by  critics  the  best  of  his  historical  paintings.  West  left  about 
four  hundred  paintings  to  his  credit. 

America  was  beginning  to  establish  itself  in  the  world  of  art  when 
John  Singleton  Copley  (1737-1815),  a  Bostonian,  brought  glory  to  his 
beloved  country.  Copley  sent  anonymously  to  Benjamin  West  in  Eng- 
land a  portrait  called  "The  Boy  and  the  Flying  Squirrel."  This  was  ex- 
hibited and  gained  recognition  by  the  best  English  artists  of  the  time. 
Copley  left  his  native  land  and  sailed  for  England,  visiting  Italy  and  set- 
tling in  London,  where  he  developed  rapidly  as  a  portrait  painter.  His 
genius  was  given  full  recognition  when  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 

439 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

Royal  Academy.  His  most  celebrated  paintings  are  portraits  of  the  Eng- 
lish royal  family:  the  "Death  of  Lord  Chatham,"  now  in  the  Lon- 
don National  Gallery;  "Siege  and  Relief  of  Gibraltar,"  in  the  council 
chamber  of  the  Guildhall;  "Major  Pierson's  Death  on  the  Isle  of  Jer- 
sey"; "Surrender  of  Admiral  De  Winter  to  Lord  Duncan";  "Charles  I. 
Demanding  the  Five  Impeached  Members  in  the  House  of  Commons"; 
"The  Red  Cross  Knight";  "Mrs.  Derby  as  St.  Cecilia."  Copley  left  fifty- 
four  paintings,  which  he  presented  to  Yale  College  in  consideration  of  an 
annuity  of  $1,000. 

The  dramatic  events  of  the  American  Revolution  aroused  the  genius 
of  a  Connecticut  youth — John  Trumbull  (1756-1843).  He  was  gradu- 
ated at  Harvard  three  years  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war  and  served 
in  the  Revolution.  He,  too,  went  to  England  to  study  under  West,  but 
was  imprisoned  on  a  charge  of  treason  and  forced  to  leave  the  country. 
Some  years  later,  after  the  angers  of  war  had  subsided,  he  returned  to 
England  and  became  the  pupil  of  West.  Trumbull's  first  historical  pic- 
ture was  the  earliest  direct  contribution  to  American  national  art,  when 
he  painted  the  "Battle  of  Bunker  Hill."  This  was  followed  by  the 
"Death  of  Montgomery  Before  Quebec"  and  "Sortie  of  the  Garrison  from 
Gibraltar."  He  was  appointed  by  Congress  to  paint  four  pictures  for  the 
rotunda  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  "The  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence," the  "Surrender  of  Burgoyne,"  the  "Surrender  of  Cornwallis,"  and 
the  "Resignation  of  Washington  at  Annapolis." 

The  fourth  to  join  this  illustrious  group  of  American  painters  was 
Gilbert  Stuart,  a  Rhode  Islander  (1755-1828).  He  was  a  born  portrait 
painter  and  was  busy  at  his  easel  when  thirteen  years  old.  West  recog- 
nized his  talent,  took  him  into  his  home  in  England,  and  gave  him  in- 
struction in  art.  The  young  American  obtained  distinction  in  London 
and  painted  portraits  of  George  III,  George  IV,  while  Prince  of  Wales, 
Mrs.  Siddons,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  and  Benjamin  West,  after  which  he 
went  to  Paris,  where  he  had  Louis  XVI  as  a  royal  subject.  His  great 
ambition  was  to  practise  his  art  in  America,  and  he  returned  and  opened 
a  studio  first  in  New  York  and  subsequently  in  Philadelphia.  Here  he 
painted  Washington  during  his  term  as  first  President  of  the  United 
States.  This  was  the  first  of  the  famous  portraits  of  the  "Father  of  His 
Country"  by  Stuart.  He  also  painted  a  full-length  portrait  of  Wash- 
ington for  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne.  Nearly  forty  copies  from  the 
originals  of  various  sittings  made  by  Stuart  are  now  in  existence.  He 
is  represented  by  six  paintings  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art: 
"Washington"  (two  portraits),  "John  Jay,"  "Captain  Henry  Rice," 
"Mr.  David  Sears,"  "Commodore  Isaac  Hull."  Stuart  painted  the  first 

440 


GREAT  AMERICAN  ARTISTS 

five  Presidents  of  the  United  States.  He  ranks  with  the  best  portrait 
painters  of  the  English-American  School. 

South  Carolina  now  contributed  to  this  galaxy  of  masters  an  Amer- 
ican who  has  been  called  the  "American  Titian" — Washington  Allston 
(1779-1843).  He  studied  art  in  Europe  and,  after  a  residence  in  Eng- 
land, opened  a  studio  in  Boston.  His  painting  "The  Dead  Man  Re- 
vived" was  awarded  a  prize  of  200  guineas.  His  canvases  include  "The 
Prophet  Jeremiah";  "Spanish  Girl";  "Spalatro's  Vision  of  the  Bloody 
Hand";  "Belshazzar's  Feast,"  and  portraits  of  Benjamin  West,  Coleridge, 
and  himself. 

Then  there  are  the  Peales — father  and  son — an  old  Maryland  fam- 
ily. The  sire,  bearing  the  name  of  Charles  Wilson  Peale  (1741-1827) 
turned  from  saddlery  to  portrait  painting.  He  became  a  pupil  of  Copley 
at  Boston  and  of  West  in  London.  Portraiture,  mezzotinto  engraving, 
modeling  in  wax,  and  casting  and  molding  in  plaster,  received  his  atten- 
tion. He  opened  a  studio  in  Philadelphia  in  the  year  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  and  was  elected  to  the  Pennsylvania  legislature  three 
years  later.  During  Jefferson's  administration,  he  opened  Peak's  Mu- 
seum, including  collections  of  portraits  and  objects  of  natural  history. 
Peale  was  a  collector  of  natural  curiosities  and  a  lecturer  on  natural  his- 
tory. It  is  said  that  "he  sawed  the  ivory  on  which  his  miniatures  were 
painted,  molded  the  glass  that  covered  them,  and  made  the  shagreen  cases 
that  enclosed  them."  For  many  years  he  was  the  only  portrait  painter 
of  importance  in  the  colonies.  Washington  granted  him  fourteen  sittings 
in  all  poses  from  colonel  of  Virginia  militia  to  "father  of  his  country.'* 
Peale  also  painted  Robert  Morris,  financier  of  the  American  Revolution, 
Hancock,  Gates,  Baron  de  Steuben,  Comte  de  Rochambeau,  Franklin,  Na- 
thaniel Greene,  Jefferson,  Hamilton,  Monroe,  Jackson,  J.  Q.  Adams,  Cal- 
houn,  and  Clay — all  notable  figures  in  the  early  days  of  nation  building. 

American  painting  was  rapidly  earning  its  full  recognition,  when  an- 
other Pennsylvanian  appears — Rembrandt  Peale  (1778-1860),  second  son 
of  C.  W.  Peale.  He  became  one  of  West's  pupils  in  London,  and  later 
went  to  Paris  to  paint  portraits  of  celebrities  for  Peale's  Museum  at  Phila- 
delphia, to  which  city  he  returned.  Two  of  his  great  exhibition  paintings 
are  "The  Roman  Daughter"  and  "The  Court  of  Death."  He  painted 
Washington  several  times.  The  original  of  his  portrait  of  1823  was  pur- 
chased by  Congress  for  $2,000.  Chief  Justice  Marshall  called  it  "more 
Washington  himself  than  any  portrait  I  have  ever  seen." 

It  was  now  that  an  English-American  entered  this  group  of  American 
painters — Thomas  Sully  (1783-1872).  He  was  born  in  England  but 
came  to  the  United  States  with  his  parents,  who  were  actors,  and  studied 

441 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

painting  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  and  Richmond,  Virginia,  later  re- 
moving to  New  York.  He  returned  to  London  to  complete  his  studies, 
and  two  years  later  came  back  and  settled  in  Philadelphia.  He  stands 
out  as  one  of  the  leading  American  painters  of  portraits,  the  best  known 
of  which  are  the  full-length  portraits  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  Commodore 
Decatur,  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  Lafayette.  His  celebrated  painting  of 
"Washington  Crossing  the  Delaware"  is  in  the  Boston  Museum. 

With  the  passing  of  these  founders  of  American  art  we  enter  the 
middle  period  when  native  stylists  began  to  appear — such  as  Thomas  Cole, 
Kensett,  Church,  Bierstadt,  Thomas  Moran,  Harding  Inman,  Hunting- 
ton,  Mount;  Emanuel  Leutze,  Hicks,  Fuller,  and  William  Morris  Hunt. 

Art  life  in  America  had  been  an  incessant  struggle  for  recognition  up 
to  this  point,  and  it  only  began  to  come  into  its  own  with  the  sudden 
growth  in  wealth  and  taste  following  the  American  Civil  War  in  1865 
and  the  Centennial  Exhibition  of  1876.  Then  it  entered  upon  the  third 
period  with  Johnson,  Vcdder,  and  La  Farge ;  Homer,  Inness,  Wyant,  Mar- 
tin, Chase,  Cox,  and  Blashfield;  Twachtman,  Robinson,  Harrison,  and 
the  modern  masters — Whistler,  Abbey,  and  Sargeant.  Their  works  are 
so  well  known  to  the  present  generation  that  it  is  needless  to  enlarge  upon 
them. 

Here,  after  many  travails,  America  at  last  produced  a  master  who 
may  be  called  the  greatest  innovator  of  his  century — James  A.  McNeil 
Whistler  (1834-1903).  He  was  born  in  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  and  at 
seventeen  years  of  age  was  appointed  to  the  West  Point  Military  Academy, 
which  he  left  after  four  years  to  become  a  draughtsman  in  the  Coast  and 
Geodetic  Survey.  It  was  in  this  work  that  he  learned  the  first  rudiments 
of  his  great  art,  but  he  soon  left  it  to  go  to  Europe.  In  Paris,  he  became 
a  pupil  in  the  Art  Studio  of  C.  G.  Glere  of  The  Ingres'  School.  Previous 
to  the  series  generally  styled  the  "French  Set,"  Whistler  is  known  to  have 
etched  three  plates.  The  French  Set  depict  street  scenes,  interiors  and 
figures.  Then  going  to  London  he  etched  the  "Thames  Set,"  treating  of 
the  river  craft.  The  unfailing  characteristics  of  all  his  etchings  are  pre- 
cision and  flexibility  of  line  and  remarkable  picturesqueness  in  the  render- 
ing of  shade  and  light.  Their  observations  and  their  technical  skill  are 
alike  noteworthy.  All  of  Whistler's  plates  are  highly  prized  by  connois- 
seurs, even  more  than  can  be  said  for  Rembrandt.  Whistler  is  without 
doubt  the  most  original  genius  of  plastic  art  born  in  America,  one  of  the 
world's  finest  etchers.  He  belongs  to  no  particular  school,  and  whatever 
he  did  was  his  own,  barring  the  influence  of  the  Japanese.  His  art  is 
simple — the  maximum  of  effort  with  the  minimum  of  point.  The  por- 
trait of  his  mother  ranks  with  the  world's  greatest  paintings.  Whistler 

442 


GRAN DEI R   OF   NIAGARA— "The   most  awe-Inspiring   spectacle   In   the  world"— The   waters    plunge 
165  feet  into  whirlpool  rapids — The  crest  of  the  American  Falls  extends  1,060  feet; 
the  Canadian  Falls,  3,013  feet. 


GLITTERING    BEAUTY   OF   NIAGARA    IN    WINTER — This   Impressive   sight   demonstrates   the 

power   of   nature — The   ice   king   touches   the   mighty   waterfalls   and    they    are 

transformed  into  myriads  of  sparkling  Jewels  under  the  light  of  the  sun. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  ARTISTS 

was  personally  a  most  eccentric  man  and  delighted  in  making  enemies. 
He  died  in  London. 

Among  his  contemporaries,  Winslow  Homer  and  John  La  Farge  did 
very  strong  and  original  work.  Homer's  individuality  of  conception  has 
never  been  surpassed,  and  La  Farge's  sense  of  color  and  line  has  made 
him  America's  greatest  decorative  painter.  Edwin  Abbey,  whose  paint- 
ings decorate  the  Boston  Library,  is  another  voluntary  exile,  who  first  had 
to  seek  recognition  in  England,  but  finally  came  into  his  own  in  America, 
as  a  master  of  mural  painting. 

Paris,  Munich,  London,  and  Rome  have  large  colonies  of  American- 
born  painters  whose  work,  however,  is  more  European  than  American. 
The  Paris  colony  includes  men  like  Bridgman,  Dannat,  McEwen,  Walter 
Gay,  and  Sergeant  Kendall.  C.  F.  Ulrich  makes  Munich  his  home ;  Shan- 
non is  in  London,  and  Coleman  in  Italy. 

America  has  contributed  to  the  art  world  portrait  and  genre  painters 
like  John  W.  Alexander  and  William  Chase,  men  of  cosmopolitan  tastes 
with  a  leaning  toward  French  methods.  Our  landscape  painters  have  al- 
ways had  a  distinctly  American  flavor.  The  strongest  landscapist  of  our 
times,  George  Innes,  is  an  innovator  and  an  experimenter;  further,  he 
knows  the  solidity  of  nature.  The  mass  and  bulk  of  landscape  are  ex- 
pressed marvelously  by  his  brush.  No  one  has  visualized  with  more 
power  the  savage  grandeur  of  the  desolate  New  England  shores.  Among 
the  men,  who  have  taken  landscape  and  figure  as  their  subjects,  there  is 
a  notable  energy  of  treatment  and  a  very  gratifying  sense  of  the  things 
typically  American — Tyron,  Dearth,  Crane,  Murphy,  Dabo,  Horatio 
Walker,  Weir,  Twachtman.  Gedney  Bunce,  drawing  upon  European 
memories  for  his  inspiration,  has  painted  Venetian  marine  scenes  of  charm- 
ing quality.  De  Haas,  Maynard,  Snell,  Butler,  Chapman  have  selected 
their  subjects  nearer  home  and  obtained  very  striking  effects  with  views 
of  the  Ad  an  tic  and  Pacific  coasts.  Thus  we  find  that  in  America  we  have 
a  national  art  which  is  building  steadily  upon  the  foundation  that  has  been 
firmly  laid. 

The  ancient  masters  of  sculpture  might  also  look  with  expectancy 
upon  their  pupils  in  the  New  World.  Great  memorial  shafts,  monuments, 
mausoleums,  fountains,  and  heroic  statues  are  rising  in  the  public  squares 
and  parks  in  every  town  and  city  of  the  land — tributes  to  the  valor  of 
men  or  landmarks  to  great  events  in  the  building  of  the  republic.  While 
these  do  not  as  a  whole  typify  great  art,  they  are  at  least  an  expression  of 
the  growing  instinct  of  the  people  for  the  Fine  Arts. 

The  history  of  American  sculpture  begins  in  1820,  when  John  Frazee 
made  a  bust  of  John  Wells  for  Grace  Church,  NfeW  York.  This  was  the 

445 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

first  marble  portrait  made  by  an  American  sculptor.  Before  John  Frazee, 
during  the  Eighteenth  Century,  we  hear  of  a  Mrs.  Patience  Wright  of  New 
Jersey  who  "executed  wax  figures."  Her  wax  likeness  of  Lord  Chatham 
was  considered  good  enough  to  be  admitted  to  Westminster  Abbey. 
There  was  also  John  Dixey,  an  Irishman,  who  came  to  America  in  1789 
and  made  the  figures  of  "Justice"  for  the  City  Hall,  New  York,  and  the 
State  House  at  Albany.  An  Italian,  Guiseppe  Cerrachi,  came  to  this  coun- 
try in  1791  with  a  design  for  an  elaborate  monument  to  "Liberty."  A 
public  subscription  was  started  to  enable  the  artist  to  have  his  design  car- 
ried out  in  stone;  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  George  Washington  headed  the 
list  of  subscribers,  the  necessary  sums  were  not  raised.  Cerrachi,  disap- 
pointed, left  the  country  after  having  made  a  few  interesting  busts  of 
Washington,  Hamilton,  Clinton,  Paul  Jones,  and  John  Hay. 

Sculpture  struggled  nobly  to  obtain  a  foothold  in  America.  William 
Rush,  of  Philadelphia,  a  self-taught  genius,  carved  in  wood  and  mod- 
eled in  clay  and  wax.  His  bust  of  Washington  in  the  Pennsylvania  Acad- 
emy of  Fine  Arts  and  his  wooden  "Water  Nymph,"  now  reproduced  in 
bronze,  decorate  Fairmount  Park  in  Philadelphia.  Horatio  Greenough 
was  charged  with  indecency  for  his  marble  group,  the  "Chanting  Cherubs" 
and  his  statue  of  "Venus  Victrix."  It  was  only  after  a  committee  of 
clergymen  had  passed  upon  the  "Greek  Slave"  that  Hiram  Powers  was  al- 
lowed to  exhibit  it  in  Cincinnati  or  to  make  replicas.  Crawford,  Browne, 
Story,  Ball,  Harriet  Hosmer,  and  others,  followed  the  classical  principles 
of  Canova  and  Thorvaldsen  and  adapted  their  master's  work  to  the  prudish 
taste  of  their  times. 

It  is  not  until  we  greet  Quincy  Adam  Ward  that  we  finally  meet  a 
great  American  sculptor  of  the  sturdy  type.  He  took  a  bold  stand,  little 
affected  by  foreign  influences.  Ignoring  entirely  the  so-called  classical 
subjects,  Ward  derived  his  inspiration  from  national  American  types. 
He  treated  very  successfully  subjects  like  "The  Indian,"  "The  Freedman," 
"The  Pilgrim,"  the  "Private  of  the  Seventh  Regiment."  His  masterpiece 
is  the  noble  statue  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  in  Brooklyn. 

Behold,  the  master!  The  advent  of  Augustus  Saint  Gaudens,  son 
of  a  French  father  and  an  Irish  mother — but  born  in  New  York — gave  to 
America  one  of  the  greatest  of  modern  sculptors.  Saint  Gaudens  was 
trained  in  the  Ecole  des  beaux  Arts  in  Paris,  but,  deeply  in  love  with 
American  subjects,  has  been  the  most  powerful  factor  in  bringing  American 
sculpture  to  its  present  state  of  excellence.  In  his  bas-reliefs  of  the  sons 
of  Prescott  Hall  Butler,  in  his  caryatids  for  the  house  of  Cornelius  Van- 
derbilt,  the  wall  reliefs  in  All  Souls'  Church,  New  York,  and  the  Prince- 
ton University  Chapel,  Saint  Gaudens  has  shown  that  he  had  the  soul  of 

446 


GREAT  AMERICAN  ARTISTS 

the  Greek  sculptors  in  grace  and  purely  external  charm.  But  it  is  in  ex- 
pressing individual  character  that  he  achieves  his  greatest  triumphs.  Look 
upon  his  statue  of  Admiral  Farragut  in  Madison  Square;  the  Lincoln 
Statue  in  Lincoln  Park,  Chicago;  the  statue  of  Deacon  Chapin,  better 
known  as  "The  Puritan,"  in  Springfield,  Massachusetts — here  we  see  the 
hand  of  the  great  American  master. 

The  granite  hills  of  New  Hampshire  have  given  the  modern  world 
another  great  craftsman — Daniel  Chester  French.  He  early  attracted  at- 
tention by  his  bronze  statue  of  the  "Minute  Man"  unveiled  at  Concord 
in  1875.  After  passing  through  a  period  of  struggle,  he  emerged  into 
real  fame  through  his  colossal  statue  of  the  "Republic"  for  the  Columbian 
Exhibition,  and  his  remarkable  relief  of  "Death  and  the  Sculptor."  His 
statue  of  General  Cass,  his  reliefs  of  angels  for  the  Clark  Memorial,  and 
his  group  for  the  John  Boyle  O'Reilley  Memorial,  are  works  of  the  very 
first  rank. 

Modern  America  is  beginning  to  produce  the  highest  art  of  the  times. 
Frederick  MacMonnies,  a  pupil  of  Saint  Gaudens,  had  first  to  seek  rec- 
ognition in  other  lands.  His  statue  of  the  "Bacchante"  aroused  the  ire 
of  the  conservatives  in  Boston.  And  yet  that  statue,  as  well  as  his  "Boy 
and  Heron"  and  his  "Pan,"  are  striking  examples  of  true  American  energy 
and  directness  in  art.  His  statue  of  Nathan  Hale  in  the  City  Hall  Park, 
New  York  City,  is  one  of  our  best  civic  monuments. 

The  work  of  Herbert  Adams,  of  Brooklyn,  shows  his  indebtedness  to 
Saint  Gaudens  in  his  bronze  angel  for  Emanuel  Baptist  Church,  Brooklyn, 
and  his  marble  bas-relief  for  the  Judson  Memorial  Church,  New  York. 
Almost  alone  among  our  sculptors,  Adams  has  turned  to  the  Florence  of 
the  Fifteenth  Century  for  his  inspiration.  His  delicately  colored  female 
busts,  and  his  relief  entitled  "Orchid,"  have  an  exquisitely  refined  Floren- 
tine charm. 

Sculpture  is  coming  in  America — in  fact  it  is  already  here.  The  list 
of  sculptors  is  by  no  means  exhausted  with  the  names  we  have  mentioned. 

Art  in  America  has  arrived;  its  various  schools  are  performing  an  in- 
estimable service  to  the  American  people;  estheticism  is  ingrafting  itself 
into  our  national  life.  And  yet  we  are  only  in  the  beginning  of  our  art 
era.  If,  as  Zangwill  says,  "Art  is  Truth  made  Beautiful,"  or,  as  Delsarti 
has  said,  "Art  is  Emotion  which  has  passed  through  Thought  and  become 
fixed  in  Form" — then  the  world  must  in  the  coming  generations  look  to  the 
American  democracy  for  the  liberalizing  influences,  the  emancipation  from 
old  schools  and  forms — for  the  new  era  in  the  Fine  Arts. 


447 


PART  V  CHAPTER  XIX 

GREAT  AMERICAN  COMPOSERS 


"The  man  that  hath  no  music  in  himself, 
And  is  not  moved  with  concord  of  sweet  sounds, 
Is  fit  for  treasons,  strategems,  and  spoils." 

— Shakespeare:  "Merchant  of  Venice." 


1 


American  Longfellow  in  one  of  his  poems  denned  music  as 
"the  Universal  Language  of  Mankind."  It  is  indeed  this  and 
more — it  is  the  medium  of  national  expression,  the  voice  from 
the  heart  of  the  people,  the  outpouring  of  a  nation's  soul.  Music 
may  speak  in  a  "universal  language,"  but  it  assumes  the  physical  and 
spiritual  intonations  of  the  various  groups  of  people  in  their  individual 
nations  and  is  a  true  psychological  interpretation  of  national  character. 

Music  is  not  only  a  psychological  revelation,  but  it  is  an  index  to  the 
economic  and  social  status  of  a  nation  and  authentically  narrates  the  his- 
torical development  of  the  people.  It  may  be  a  joyous  outburst  as  in 
exultation  over  victory,  or  sorrowful  as  in  a  pseon  of  discouragement  and 
misfortune.  It  assumes  the  melancholy  tones  of  revolution  or  the  light 
moods  of  a  pleasure-loving  race.  It  depicts  the  varying  national  moods 
in  the  various  national  epochs — tragedy  or  jubilation,  comedy  or  romance 
— and  rises  in  devotional  supplication  according  to  the  spiritual  insight  of 
the  people. 

Music  is  technically  defined  as  the  science  of  combining  tones  in  me- 
lodic, rhythmic,  and  harmonic  order,  so  as  to  excite  the  emotions  or  appeal 
to  the  intellect.  For  untold  ages  it  was  purely  emotional.  With  its  de- 
velopment as  a  science,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  it  appealed  almost  entirely  to 
the  intellect,  until  to-day  the  truest  music  is  that  which  combines  both 
the  intellectual  and  the  emotional — the  mind  and  the  heart. 

In  America,  we  have  produced  but  few  masters  of  matured  musical 
expression,  but  rather  a  race  of  music-lovers  from  which  eventually  will 
arise  the  American  masters.  It  may  be  truly  said  that  the  American  people 
have  been  bringing  their  music  with  them  in  their  migrations  from  the  Old 
World.  The  American  democracy  is  composed  of  the  blood  of  all  the 
races  of  the  earth — it  is  the  product  of  the  older  civilizations  turned  into  a 
new  mold  from  which  is  evolved  a  new,  strong,  virile  race.  Thus  we 
have  in  this  country  the  living  spirit  of  all  the  world's  music — the  millions 
of  Germans,  Italians,  Polish,  and  those  of  other  strains  that  have  given  the 
world  its  noblest  compositions  have  brought  with  them  to  America  the 

448 


MOST  MAGNIFICENT  LH'.UAKY  ISUILIUXG  IX  THE  WORLD-  Library  of  Congress  in   Washington 

— It  occupies  three  and   three-quarter  acres  and   can   accommodate  over  4,<K)0.<)00    volumes 

—  It  cost  $6,500,000  aud   contains   tlie  work  of  forty   American   painters. 


NATIONAL  MfSKI'M  AT  WASHINGTON— This  is  the  National  Depository  for  scientific 
collections— The  building  cost  $.'{,500,000  and   contains  exhibits   relating  to 
the  origin  and  development  of  the  American  people, 


ind  historic 


GREAT  AMERICAN  COMPOSERS 

very  soul  of  music.  These  peoples  who  have  come  to  us  from  foreign 
lands  bring  with  them  the  genius  of  Beethoven,  the  world's  supreme  mas- 
ter, and  the  passionate  intensity  of  the  great  Wagner. 

The  strains  from  the  masters  rise  from  the  homes  of  the  people 
throughout  the  republic.  All  the  tone-masters  of  the  modern  world  are 
the  common  heritage  of  the  American  people,  and  their  voices  live  and 
speak  throughout  the  nation — the  organ  tones  of  the  greatest  of  all  masses 
from  Bach ;  the  noble  melody  of  the  world's  greatest  oratorio  from  Handel ; 
the  scores  of  the  first  dramatic  school  of  operatic  music  from  Gliick;  the 
classical  piano  sonatas  introduced  by  Haydn,  improved  by  the  melodic 
grace  of  Mozart,  and  brought  to  a  culmination  by  the  super-master 
Beethoven ;  the  varied  works  of  Mendelssohn,  Schubert,  Schumann,  Verdi, 
Bizet;  Liszt,  king  of  the  pianoforte,  and  Chopin,  the  poet  of  the  piano. 
A  host  of  modern  composers  have  endowed  America  with  their  melodies 
— Russians,  Polish,  Hungarians — the  genius  of  the  earth  finds  its  patrons 
among  the  American  people. 

So  it  is  that  the  time  cannot  be  far  distant  when  America  will  pro- 
duce its  own  masters — its  own  school  of  native  music  which  will  contribute 
generously  to  the  world's  masterpieces — for  we  have  here  in  this  country 
the  nervous  energy,  the  suppressed  emotions,  the  spiritual  force,  the  intel- 
lectual growth,  the  spontaneity  from  which  all  art  bursts  forth. 

The  first  settlers  of  America  viewed  music  very  suspiciously;  they 
were  a  colorless  people,  prosaic  and  without  temperament.  Their  fore- 
bears had  never  produced  a  musician  of  the  first  rank;  then  music  like  many 
other  arts  was  held  to  be  sinful  under  their  theocratic  regime.  Some  New 
England  communities  banished  it  under  the  pretexts  that  "the  names  of  the 
notes  are  blasphemous;  it  makes  a  disturbance,  grieves  good  men,  exasper- 
ates them  and  causes  them  to  behave  disorderly." 

Music  in  America  is  a  very  recent  development.  Indeed,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  names,  every  American  composer  of  note  is  of  the  pres- 
ent generation.  While  almost  every  American  composer  received  his  train- 
ing at  the  hands  of  German  teachers,  American  music  has  always  struck 
a  personal  note.  Nor  is  this  due  to  the  use  of  negro  or  Indian  themes 
from  which  native  composers  cannot  be  said  as  yet  to  have  derived  much 
inspiration. 

America  has  brought  forth,  in  the  last  generation,  a  school  of  orches- 
tral writers  of  which  John  Knowles  Paine  (1839-1906),  George  Whitfield 

Chadwick  (1854 ),  and  Edward  Alexander  MacDowell  (1861-1908), 

are  the  foremost,  while  Horatio  Parker  (1863 )  has  brought  the 

American  oratorio  to  a  much  higher  standard  than  it  had  ever  before  at- 
tained. These  names  are  now  familiar  to  European  concert-goers. 

451 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

Let  us  meet  these  men  with  a  passing  introduction  in  the  order  of  their 
day.  Paine,  the  American  organist  and  composer,  was  born  in  Maine  and 
at  an  early  age  felt  the  spell  of  Germany ;  and  there  he  went  to  study  with 
the  masters.  The  love  of  homeland  soon  called  him  back,  and  he  found 
himself  in  the  classic  surroundings  of  Cambridge  as  a  professor  of  music 
at  Harvard.  The  Muses  cast  their  spell  over  him,  and  his  first  contribu- 
tion was  the  music  for  the  "GEdipus  Tyrannus"  of  Sophocles.  He  was 
chosen  to  write  the  "Centennial  Hymn"  to  Whittier's  words  for  the  Cen- 
tennial Exposition  at  Philadelphia  in  1876,  and  the  Columbus  march  and 
hymn  for  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  in  Chicago  in  1893 — thus 
bestowing  informally  upon  him  the  first  "laureateship"  in  our  national 
music.  He  rose  to  his  full  height,  however,  when  he  wrote  the  opera 
"Azara,"  which  is  worthy  to  become  a  permanent  work,  and  later  pro- 
duced many  symphonic  poems  and  cantatas. 

New  England,  that  portion  of  our  country  which  has  contributed  so 
largely  to  American  nationality,  then  gave  another  of  its  sons  to  the  Muses 
— George  Whitfield  Chadwick — a  product  of  Massachusetts.  Chadwick, 
too,  was  drawn  to  Leipsic  and  then  returned  to  Boston,  where  he  became 
a  musical  director  and  conducted  the  annual  music  festivals  at  Worcester. 
His  claims  to  distinction  lie  in  his  opera  "Judith,"  a  symphony  "Jubilee," 
a  comic  opera  "Tobasco,"  and  a  chorus,  the  "Columbian  Ode." 

The  greatest  American  composer,  according  to  the  foreign  critics,  is 
Edward  Alexander  MacDowell.  A  New  Yorker  by  birth,  but  of  Scottish 
descent,  MacDowell  early  won  recognition  in  Europe.  He  studied  in 
Paris  and  in  Germany.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  was  invited  by  Liszt 
to  play  his  first  piano  suite  before  the  formidable  Allgemeiner  Deutscher 
Musik  Verein,  the  most  exclusive  musical  society  of  Germany,  which  ac- 
corded him  an  enthusiastic  reception.  His  works  succeeded  from  the  first 
in  winning  favor;  they  are  played  constantly  in  Germany,  Austria,  Hol- 
land, Russia  and  France.  One  of  them  was  performed  three  times  in  one 
single  season  in  Breslau. 

MacDowell  never  was  attracted  by  negro  music,  but  always  contended 
that  the  virile  strains  of  Indian  songs  are  more  adapted  to  the  American 
temperament  than  the  rather  lazy,  sensuous  slave  tunes  of  the  South.  He 
collected  and  compiled  the  folk-music  of  the  prairies  and  based  one  of  his 
most  important  works  upon  Indian  themes.  This  is  his  "Indian  Suite" — • 
a  work  which  is  being  performed  frequently  and  always  leaves  a  very 
profound  impression  on  the  audience,  especially  the  solemn  dirge  which 
constitutes  one  of  its  numbers.  Besides  the  "Indian  Suite,"  MacDowell 
has  written  several  poems  for  orchestra  and  orchestral  suites.  His  so- 
natas, "Eroica,"  "Tragica,"  "Scandinavian,"  and  "Celtic,"  his  various  com- 

452 


GREAT  AMERICAN  COMPOSERS 

positions  for  piano,  and  his  many  songs  have  great  charm  and  individu- 
ality. In  recitals  of  his  own  compositions  MacDowell  showed  that  he 
was  not  only  a  great  composer  but  a  pianist  of  the  first  rank. 

The  classicist  of  the  conservative  academic  school  in  American  music 
is  Horatio  William  Parker — the  scholar  of  almost  every  known  musical 
form  from  a  symphony  to  an  operetta,  from  an  oratorio  to  chamber  music. 
Parker  is  another  product  of  Massachusetts  brought  into  an  European 
environment.  He  was  graduated  from  the  Munich  Royal  Conservatory 
and  then  came  home  to  his  native  land  as  an  organist  and  professor  of  the 
theory  of  music  at  Yale  University.  His  compositions  rank  high  in  Amer- 
ican music;  they  include  the  oratorio  "Hora  Novissima,"  the  first  American 
music  presented  at  an  English  musical  festival;  "A  Wanderer's  Psalm," 
which  also  was  given  at  the  English  festivals;  the  oratorio  of  "St.  Chris- 
topher"; the  cantatas  "King  Trojan"  and  "The  Kobolds,"  with  many  later 
works.  It  is  Parker  who  holds  the  distinction  of  composing  the  first  opera  of 
the  classical  school  that  approaches  the  long-sought  ambition  of  "the  great 
American  opera."  His  production  of  "Mona"  received  the  $10,000  award 
offered  in  competition  with  all  the  American  composers  by  the  Metropolitan 
Opera  Company.  This  earned  for  him  the  position  of  our  "greatest  Amer- 
ican composer"  after  the  death  of  MacDowell. 

The  Spirit  of  Music  is  now  reigning  over  America — genius  is  strug- 
gling to  break  its  bonds  and  soar  to  the  pinnacle  of  the  divine  art.  Many 
notable  composers  are  rising,  whom,  however,  the  limitations  of  these  pages 
will  not  allow  us  to  discuss — but  among  them  are  Converse  with  his  "The 
Pipe  of  Desire"  and  other  notable  contributions;  Victor  Herbert  with  his 
"Natoma,"  and  Arthur  Nevins. 

America  has  produced  a  popular  idol  of  modern  pianists — Ethelbert 
Nevin.  He  was  born  near  Pittsburgh.  His  writings  have  been  altogether 
along  the  smaller  lines  of  composition,  short,  simple,  delicate  little  pieces, 
which  have  won  him  an  enviable  place  as  a  worker  in  gems.  It  is  pleasant 
to  record  the  achievements  of  a  composer  who  has  been  financially  success- 
ful without  ever  forfeiting  the  respect  of  the  greatest  artists  and  harmonists, 
and  without  sacrificing  his  own  conscience  and  individuality.  Graceful 
and  lyrical,  though  not  afraid  of  radical  modernism  in  harmony,  he  devoted 
his  genius  to  songs  and  piano  pieces  exclusively.  His  "Sketch-Book," 
"Day  in  Venice,"  "In  Arcady,"  "Serenade,"  justify  fully  what  the  famous 
pianist  and  musical  editor,  Klindworth,  said  of  him :  "He  can  say  for  the 
musical  world  something  that  no  one  else  can  say." 

America  has  given  the  world  one  of  the  most  versatile  of  geniuses  in 
John  Philip  Sousa,  bandmaster,  composer,  novelist,  and  writer  of  humor- 
ous verse.  At  the  age  of  1 1  he  first  appeared  in  public  as  a  violin  soloist, 

453 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

at  15  was  teaching  harmony,  at  22  became  one  of  the  first  violins  in  an 
orchestra  conducted  by  Offenbach,  and  later  was  appointed  conductor  of 
the  United  States  Marine  Band. 

It  was  when  he  began  to  compose  marches  that  his  fame  spread,  first 
throughout  this  country,  then  abroad.  Such  is  the  lilt  of  his  music  that 
his  marches  have  invaded  the  realm  of  the  dance.  There  is  probably  no 
composer  in  the  world  whose  financial  success  equals  his.  He  sold  his 
"Washington  Post"  march  outright  for  $35,  but  his  "Liberty  Bell  March" 
has  netted  him  $100,000,  and  his  "Stars  and  Stripes  Forever"  added 
greatly  to  his  fame  and  his  income.  He  became  too  big  for  the  Marine 
Band,  and  organized  the  Sousa  Band,  touring  his  own  country,  Europe; 
and  then  the  world.  When  he  began  writing  comic  operas  his  success 
was  still  greater.  He  has  written  the  music  for  eleven,  including  "El 
Capitan,"  "The  Smugglers"  and  "The  Charlatan."  Also  he  has  composed 
several  suites,  symphonic  poems  and  many  songs.  Lately  he  has  com- 
posed numerous  other  marches,  including  "America:  The  Messiah  of  Na- 
tions," "The  March  of  the  States,"  and  "The  Hippodrome  March."  Not 
content  with  musical  fame,  he  wrote  two  successful  novels,  "The  Fifth 
String"  and  "Pipetown  Sandy."  He  has  been  decorated  by  the  king  of 
Great  Britain  and  by  the  French  Government.  His  compositions  for  the 
band,  however,  have  won  universal  approval.  Thus  it  is  that  the  son  of 
a  Portuguese  father  and  a  German  mother  has  made  at  least  one  variety  of 
American  music  famous  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 

Among  the  thorough  Americans  who  should  be  mentioned  here  is 
Edgar  Stillman  Kelley,  a  son  of  the  Middle  West,  having  been  born  in 
Wisconsin.  His  first  work  was  stage  music  to  "Macbeth,"  and  was  played 
in  San  Francisco  with  great  success.  His  second  work,  a  comic  opera, 
was  refused  by  the  man  who  had  ordered  it;  completely  discouraged,  Kelley 
abandoned  music  for  journalism.  He  was,  fortunately,  prevailed  upon  to 
return  to  composition.  A  humorous  symphony  and  a  "Chinese  suite"  met 
with  immediate  success  after  his  previous  disappointment.  Two  songs 
which  are  settings  of  verse  by  Poe,  "Eldorado,"  and  "Israfel"  will  prob- 
ably prove  his  masterpieces;  for  they  are  perhaps  the  greatest  lyrics  in 
modern  music. 

To  Anton  Dvorak,  the  Bohemian  composer,  who  came  to  this  country 
in  1892  and  glorified  Southern  music  in  his  symphony,  the  "New  World," 
America  is  in  a  measure  indebted  for  the  compositions  of  Harvey  Worth- 
ington  Loomis.  An  amateur  until  he  met  Dvorak,  Loomis  received  so 
much  encouragement  at  the  hands  of  the  Bohemian  master  that  he  decided 
to  givt  a  free  rein  to  his  artistic  leanings.  Although  Loomis  has  written 


M  \STERPIECE   FROM   MORGAN  ART  COLLECTION — This  inannilicout   painting  is   reproduced 

in  this  volume  through  courtesy  of  Mr.  J.   Pierpont  Morgan — It  Is   Raphael's   "\  irjjin   and 

Child    Enthroned  with  Saints" — The  original  Is  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art. 


GIANT   DINOSAUR   FROM   WYOMIN 


PREHISTORIC    SKULI 


GROUP    FROM   A   HOPI    VILLAGE 


AMERICAN     INDIANS   IN   ARIZONA 


AMERICAN    BIRDS  -  BROWN    PELICAN   FROM    INDIAN    RIVER    IN    FLORIDA 


IROQUIOS  INDIAN  WOMAN  POUNDING  CORN 


AMERICAN  ANIMALS -ROOSEVELT   ELK    FROM   NORTHWESTERN    UNITED   STATES 


BROUGHT  F"ROTH  GREEN  LAN ID  ^ROBERT  ZPEARY         BEAVERS   FROM   COLORADO  -  SHOWING   HOW   THESE  ANIMALS   LIVE   AND   W 


HISTORIC    COLLECTIONS    IN    FAMOUS    AMERICAN   MTSEl'MS — The    exhibits    on    these    pages    are    repro- 
duced   by    special    permission    from    the    Museum  of  Natural  History  of  New  York — This  Institution 
is  a  treasure  house  of  all  mementos  gathered  from  all  parts  of  the  earth. 


WEIGHT  40  TONS- LENGTH  70  FEET 

* 


LIFE  AMONG   THE  AMERICAN    INDIANS 


NAVAJO    INDIAN  GROUP 


PREHISTORIC    SKULL 


INDIAN    WAR    CANOE  FROM  AtASKA-64X2  FEET  LONG  DUG  FROM  A  SINGLE  TREE 


POLAR  BEARS -MALE  ON  RIGHT  BROUGHT  FROM   ARCTIC  BY  ROBERT  E.PEARY 


AMERICAN  EGRET  FROM  SOUTH  CAROLINA 


r-RlCAN    BISON  OR   BUFFALO    -    FROM  THE  PRAIRIES  OF  THE  GREAT  WEST 


SHELL     CAMEO    CARVED    IN     ITALY 
GEM    COLLECTION   OF  J.  PIERPONT    MORGAN 


MISKTM    OF   NATURAL    IIISTOKY — This   institution  is   rich   in  its  archeological   collections — Here  we  can 

flnd  the  remains  of  all  epochs  of  mankind;   Egyptian   nommlajL  war  implements,   stuffed  animals, 

birds,    flsh ;   exhibitions   of   Costumes   and   customs,   gems,  and  other  objects. 


BEAUTIFUL  WATERFALLS  OF  THE  YOSEMITE — Here  silver  streams  fall  through  solid  granite 

precipices  into  the  valley  below — These  streams  flow  through  the  most  beautiful   pine 

forests  in  the  world  and  form  hundreds  of  glacier  lakes. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  COMPOSERS 

over  500  compositions,  only  a  few  have  been  published,  the  flimsiest  of' 
them  at  that,  ballet  suites  which  reveal  him  as  a  master  colorist. 

Another  composer  with  a  strong  national  tinge  is  Henry  Schoenfeld, 
of  Milwaukee,  who,  long  before  Dvorak  had  called  the  attention  of  Amer- 
ican musicians  to  Southern  melodies,  embodied  them  in  his  "Suite,"  his 
"Sunny  South,"  and  other  orchestral  works.  Indian  themes  fill  the  texture 
of  his  "Three  Indians."  Finally,  his  patriotism  expressed  itself  through 
his  "American  Flag,"  a  festival  overture  inspired  by  Rodman  Drake's 
familiar  poem. 

While  Arthur  Foote,  of  Salem,  Massachusetts,  has  written  very  solid 
compositions,  some  of  them  performed  with  success  by  the  Boston  Sym- 
phony Orchestra,  his  real  contribution  to  American  music  will  probably 
be  his  choruses  for  men's  voices.  For  two  years  the  leader  of  the  Glee 
Club  of  Harvard  University,  Arthur  Foote  acquired  a  decided  fondness 
for  the  color  and  warmth  which  characterize  college  singing.  He  came 
to  appreciate  the  leaning  toward  dramatic  effect,  as  well  as  the  sense  of  wit 
and  humor  which  glee  clubs  cultivate,  and  which  is  not  essentially  incom- 
patible with  real  value  in  music. 

There  is  also  a  large  body  of  naturalized  foreigners,  the  best  known 
among  them  being  Walter  Damrosch,  born  in  Breslau,  Germany,  and  Vic- 
tor Herbert,  born  in  Dublin,  who  are  giving  their  genius  to  make  American 
musical  life  one  of  great  activity.  The  present  generation  of  American 
composers  gives  the  most  glowing  promise  for  the  future. 

"Let  me  write  the  songs  of  a  nation  and  I  care  not  who  makes  the 
laws,"  said  a  philosopher.  This  is  especially  true  in  America,  where  the 
popular  song  is  having  its  vogue.  In  the  short  song  form,  native  talent  is 
being  more  and  more  recognized. 

America  will  give  the  world  great  music,  because  the  national  charac- 
teristics of  this  country  embody  all  the  essentials  of  the  Art — nervous  en- 
ergy, reserve  force,  controlled  temperament,  human  passion,  dramatic  ac- 
tion, intellectual  poise,  economic  ideals,  and  spiritual  power — all  of  which, 
when  directed  in  the  channels  of  music,  will  make  noble  contribution  to 
the  art  which  "raises  the  soul  above  all  earthly  storms." 

In  the  words  of  Longfellow  we  may  say: 

"Yea,  music  is  the  Prophet's  art 
Among  the  gifts  that  God  has  sent, 
One  of  the  most  magnificent" 


PART  V  CHAPTER  XX 


"I  speak  of  that  learning  which  makes  us  acquainted  with  the  boundless 
extent  of  nature  and  the  universe,  and  which,  even  while  we  remain  in  this 
world,  discovers  to  us  both  heaven,  earth,  and  sea." — Cicero. 


1 


building  of  a  democracy — its  success  or  failure — depends 
upon  the  average  understanding  of  the  average  man — a  com- 
mon standard  of  the  common  knowledge  necessary  for  each  to 
assume  his  portion  of  the  responsibility  and  perform  his  part 
of  the  labors  required  in  the  daily  task  of  self-government. 

"Knowledge  is  power,"  said  Bacon,  and  Emerson  added,  'There  is  no 
knowledge  that  is  not  power,"  while  Addison  sounded  a  warning  when  he 
declared:  "I  would  rather  excel  others  in  knowledge  than  in  power." 
This  is  the  handwriting  on  the  wall  to  all  nations  struggling  toward 
democracy — their  security  rests  in  free  and  equal  distribution  of  educa- 
tional opportunities ;  in  common  knowledge  as  the  common  property  of  all 
the  people.  This  problem  is  of  larger  economic  importance  to  a  nation 
than  the  distribution  of  its  wealth,  for  any  community  in  which  knowledge 
is  the  common  property  of  all  the  people  will  be  able  to  solve  wisely  all 
other  problems  that  may  arise. 

Emerson  defines  knowledge  as  "the  amassed  thought  and  experience 
of  innumerable  minds,"  but  we  would  add — placed  at  the  disposal  and 
within  reach  of  all  the  people  all  the  time.  Education  of  the  fortunate 
few  develops  an  educational  autocracy  which  is  equally  as  dangerous  as 
financial  oligarchy  or  industrial  feudalism.  The  education  of  the  masses 
is  the  whole  secret  of  democracy,  and  self-government  cannot  exist  with- 
out it. 

This  is  the  foundation  stone  upon  which  American  nationality  is  be- 
ing constructed — the  free  public  school,  which  is  perhaps  America's  great- 
est contribution  to  civilization.  There  are  to-day  more  than  20,000,000 
children  in  the  public  schools  of  the  United  States — raw  material  being 
molded  into  units  capable  of  self-development,  self-control,  and  self-gov- 
ernment. This  is  costing  the  nation  annually  more  than  $800,000,000, 
and  it  is  the  biggest  dividend-paying  investment  that  a  nation  has  ever 
made.  It  is  estimated  that  we  expend  $2,000  on  every  child  in  the 
United  States  in  equipping  it  for  self-support,  to  send  it  out  into  the 
world  to  develop  the  natural  resources  of  the  earth  and  thus  increase  the 

460 


GREAT  AMERICAN  EDUCATORS 

wealth  of  the  nation.  Each  child  is  itself  a  mine  of  hidden  wealth  for 
which  the  public  school  acts  as  a  prospector  and  endeavors  to  strike  a 
paying  vein  of  natural  wealth.  The  public  school  system  is  a  co-operative, 
profit-sharing  plan,  whereby  all  the  people  as  common  stockholders  under- 
take to  develop  the  natural  resources  of  their  offspring,  thus  increasing  not 
only  the  earning  power  of  the  individual  but  multiplying  the  wealth  of 
the  nation  many  fold.  The  discovery  of  native  genius  in  one  child  in  a 
generation  may  contribute  billions  of  dollars — incalculable  wealth — to 
human  society.  "The  learned  man,"  as  PhEedrus  said,  "always  has  riches 
in  himself." 

The  origin  and  development  of  this  educational  system,  like  that  of 
all  other  momentous  ideas,  were  born  of  many  struggles  and  much  oppo- 
sition. Education  for  many  centuries,  until  the  American  idea  was  es- 
tablished, was  left  largely  to  the  church.  It  was  a  monopoly  controlled 
by  a  few  privileged  persons  and  dispensed  only  to  those  favored  ones  who 
could  pay  for  it,  or  a  matter  of  charity.  From  the  earliest  times  the  church 
encouraged  learning  and  there  were  many  great  mediaeval  universities.  Its 
first  liberation  began  when  the  church  discovered  that  knowledge  was  one 
of  the  attributes  of  God  and  the  common  inheritance  of  all  the  human 
race,  and  undertook  to  administer  it  as  an  adjunct  to  its  ministry  to  the 
spiritual  forces,  as  the  first  step  in  finding  God. 

When  the  first  Dutch  traders  came  to  New  Amsterdam  and  the  first 
English  colonizers  came  to  Jamestown  they  were  in  search  of  increased 
wealth  and  had  no  intention  of  founding  a  government.  The  earlier 
Spanish  and  French  explorers  were  precursors  of  commerce  and  trade — 
not  education.  The  Pilgrim  migration  to  Plymouth  and  that  of  the  Puri- 
tans to  Boston  were  wholly  for  purposes  of  liberation  from  autocracy. 
They  came  to  establish  religious  ideals,  but  brought  with  them  also  an 
almost  complete  indifference  to  educational  problems.  It  was  not  many 
years,  however,  before  the  Puritans  recognized  that  there  could  be  no 
freedom  of  religious  expression  without  free  knowledge.  It  was  left  to 
them  to  establish  the  first  free  elementary  school,  the  first  free  Latin  school, 
and  the  first  university.  The  records  of  Boston  show  that  in  1635  it  was 
agreed  upon  "that  our  brother  Philemon  Pormort  shall  be  entreated  to  be- 
come schoolmaster  for  the  teaching  and  nurturing  of  children  with  us." 
For  the  support  of  that  school  the  principal  inhabitants  of  the  town  sub- 
scribed from  four  shillings  to  ten  pounds  each.  Pormorfs  school  still  ex- 
ists as  the  Boston  Latin  school. 

It  was  on  Christmas  Day,  in  1641,  that  the  first  real  free  school  re- 
ceiving an  allowance  "from  the  common  stock  of  the  town"  was  opened 
in  New  Haven,  three  years  after  the  foundation  of  the  city  by  a  Massa- 

461 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

chusctts  company.  This  school  had  as  its  first  teacher  Ezekiel  Cheever, 
America's  first  great  educator.  From  the  age  of  twenty-three  when  he 
arrived  in  Boston  till  he  died  hi  his  94th  year,  Cheever  devoted  all  his  en- 
ergy to  the  training  of  youth  and  to  devising  educational  methods. 
Cheever  wrote  the  first  text-books  ever  published  in  America.  When  he 
died  at  his  post  the  great  divine,  Cotton  Mather,  delivered  the  funeral 
sermon  and  in  speaking  of  Cheever's  services  said:  "Ink  is  too  vile  a 
liquor;  liquid  gold  should  fill  the  pen  by  which  such  things  are  told." 

Education,  however,  was  an  aristocracy  in  America  for  these  first 
hundred  years  or  more.  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire  were  the  only 
places  having  a  few  free  schools  and  those  institutions  had  to  wage  a  bitter 
struggle  for  existence.  The  American  Revolution  awakened  the  first  real 
consciousness  of  the  need  of  liberal  education  among  the  people.  During 
the  period  following  the  war  the  typical  New  England  Academy  was 
originated.  One  of  those  institutions,  Dummer  Academy,  had  as  one  of  its 
pupils  Samuel  Phillips  Andover,  to  whom  American  learning  is  deeply 
indebted;  he  was  instrumental  in  establishing  Phillips  Andover  and  Phil- 
lips Exeter  Academies. 

The  greatest  pioneer  of  free  education  outside  of  New  England  was 
the  Governor  of  New  York,  George  Clinton,  who  constantly  tried  to  im- 
press upon  the  people  the  necessity  of  training  the  minds  of  the  young  for 
the  duties  of  free  citizenship.  It  was  not  until  18 12,  however,  that  the 
movement  which  he  had  initiated  in  1787  triumphed  over  indifference  and 
prejudice  and  received  the  attention  necessary  for  the  establishment  of 
free  schools.  The  growth  of  democratic  ideals  found  its  reflex  in  the  pub- 
lic school  system.  Daniel  Webster  sounded  its  depths  when  in  his  oration 
at  the  laying  of  the  cornerstone  of  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  he  declared: 
"Knowledge  is  the  only  fountain,  both  of  love  and  the  principles  of 
human  liberty." 

It  was  about  the  middle  of  last  century  that  there  appeared  a  man 
devoted  to  educational  freedom  and  inspired  by  his  comprehension  of  its 
power  as  a  democratizing  influence.  To  Horace  Mann,  America  owes 
the  absolutely  modern  and  progressive  trend  which  characterizes  all  her 
schools.  To  realize  what  forceful  influence  this  great  educator  wielded 
over  his  times  we  only  have  to  remember  that  the  British  Parliament  or- 
dered one  of  his  reports  on  education  printed  and  distributed  all  over 
England  and  that  the  German  government  had  his  fifth  and  seventh  re- 
ports translated  and  printed  in  several  large  editions. 

Born  in  poverty,  Horace  Mann  (1796-1859)  struggled  to  acquire  a 
little  education  while  working  on  a  farm  in  spring,  summer  and  autumn 
and  while  braiding  straw  for  hats  all  winter  long.  Until  he  was  fifteen 

462 


FIRST  UNIVERSITY  IN  AMERICA — Glimpse  of  campus  at  Harvard,  in  Cambridge,  Massachu- 
setts— It  "was  founded  in  1636  as  centre  of  American  culture — 'The  institution  has 
about  5,000  students — Its  productive  funds  are  nearly  $30,000,000. 


HISTORIC    CAMPUS    AT    YALE    UNIVERSITY— This    institution   was    founded    in    1701 — It 
located  in  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  where  it  has  about  4,000  students — 
Its  productive  funds  and  endowments  are  about  $16,000,000, 


IN    THE    SOUTH — Washington    and    Leo    University    at    Lexington, 
mi — v  iiiiiLrii-n   ».-    'Liberty   Hall  Academy"   in   17*2  ;   became  Washington  College  in 
1813 — (Joneral   Robert   E.    Lee   became   its   president  at  close  of  the   Civil   War. 


HISTORIC     UNIVERSITY 
Virginia — Chartered 


UNIVERSITY    FOUNDED   15 Y   THOMAS   JEFFERSON— University   of   Virginia,    located   at   Char- 

lottesvillo — Established   by  the  State  legislature  in   1.K1!»  from  a   plan   by  .lefferson    -The 

buildings  form  a  picturesque  quadrangle — Institution  has  about  1.000  students, 


GREAT  AMERICAN  EDUCATORS 

years  old,  he  never  attended  school  more  than  ten  weeks  a  year.  The 
privations  which  he  had  to  endure  in  order  to  go  through  college  unaided 
made  him  almost  a  physical  wreck,  but  his  indomitable  will  carried  him 
over  all  obstacles.  After  graduation,  he  found  employment  in  a  law  of- 
fice. At  thirty,  he  was  a  member  of  the  legislature  and  at  once  stepped 
into  prominence.  Disdainful  of  the  business  opportunities  which  his  seat 
in  the  House  could  have  secured  for  him,  Horace  Mann  unselfishly  gave 
his  time  and  thought  to  educational  reforms. 

There  has  been  no  other  instance  in  the  parliamentary  history  of  any 
State  where  a  born  leader,  a  man  of  commanding  ability,  of  recognized 
skill  in  law  and  politics,  devoted  himself  to  legislative  life  for  years  with 
only  one  purpose — to  pass  laws  for  the  benefit  of  children,  idiots,  the  in- 
sane, the  deaf,  and  the  blind.  Elected  to  the  State  Senate  and  almost 
immediately  after  to  the  presidency  of  that  body,  Horace  Mann  unhesi- 
tatingly abandoned  what  might  have  been  a  brilliant  political  career  to 
accept  the  modest  position  of  secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Education. 
His  reports  created  a  violent  outburst  of  indignation  among  the  smug 
schoolmasters  of  New  England,  who  felt  to  quote  Mann's  words,  "driven 
out  of  the  Paradise  which  their  self-esteem  had  erected  for  them."  Op- 
position to  his  ideas  became  venomous. 

Fortunately,  men  of  liberal  minds  like  Josiah  Quincy,  Charles  Sum- 
ner,  Edward  Everett,  John  G.  Whittier,  Theodore  Parker,  and  others, 
pledged  themselves,  with  a  few  prominent  merchants,  to  protect  Horace 
Mann  against  the  machinations  of  the  schoolmasters  who  had  all  but  won 
over  the  legislature  to  their  conservative  views.  Charles  Sumner  himself 
gave  bond  for  the  expenses  that  Horace  Mann's  proposed  reforms  would 
entail.  The  great  educator  began  his  work  in  earnest.  Better  teachers, 
better  schoolhouses,  and  better  books — such  was  the  first  part  of  his  pro- 
gramme. Normal  schools  for  the  training  of  teachers  was  its  first  corol- 
lary. Mann  started  on  a  campaign  tour  of  all  the  cities  and  towns  in  his 
State.  He  gave  everywhere  educational  addresses  and  aroused  the  public 
and  especially  the  newspapers  from  their  indifference  to  matters  of 
liberal  education. 

This  American  educator  proclaimed  that  the  day  had  come  when  the 
school  system  should  be  emancipated  from  its  autocratic  pedagogy.  He 
asserted  the  rights  of  the  pupil;  he  declared  that  flogging  should  cease; 
that  fads  should  be  eliminated  from  elementary  schools;  that  schools 
should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  experienced  superintendents;  that  the 
school  year  should  be  longer,  and  that  more  of  the  public  moneys  should 
be  spent  for  public  education. 

These  principles,  which  no  intelligent  person  would  even  discuss  in 

465 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

our  days,  were  revolutionary  to  Mann's  contemporaries — to  them  he  was 
a  radical  and  a  fanatic.  At  fifty-six,  Horace  Mann  found  himself  de- 
feated both  as  an  educator  and  as  a  politician.  Poor,  broken  in  health, 
he  left  the  State  that  had  refused  to  recognize  his  talent  and  accepted  the 
presidency  of  a  small  college  in  Ohio.  There  again  the  trustees  soon  made 
life  unbearable  for  him.  But  during  the  six  years  of  his  presidency  he 
labored  to  strengthen  the  faith  and  inspire  the  devotion  of  thousands  of 
young  men  and  women  all  over  the  West. 

Mann  died,  however,  in  the  knowledge  that  he  had  won  a  great  vic- 
tory. To-day  the  leaders  of  thought,  men  of  character  and  weight  in  every 
line  of  endeavor,  recognize  in  glowing  terms  the  debt  which  they  owe  to 
Horace  Mann.  His  last  utterance  was  typical  of  his  spirit:  "Be  ashamed 
to  die  until  you  have  won  some  victory  for  humanity." 

The  next  progressive  step  in  the  educational  emancipation  of  the 
American  people  introduces  a  woman — a  woman  with  only  the  most  rudi- 
mentary schooling,  who  never  could  write  well,  who  never  was  a  brilliant 
speaker,  who  never  received  much  recognition  in  her  day,  and  whose  highest 
salary  throughout  her  entire  life  was  $260  a  year.  This  woman  was  Mary 
Lyon  (1787-1849),  the  mother  of  educational  privileges  for  American 
women.  Something  of  her  life  is  told  in  the  chapter  on  "Great  American 
Women."  It  is  sufficient  here  to  state  that  sixty  years  ago  there  was  not 
one  endowed  seminary  for  girls  on  this  continent.  Now  girls  have  at  their 
disposal  hundreds  of  colleges,  seminaries,  and  normal  schools.  The  first 
seminary  was  founded  by  Mary  Lyon,  who,  after  years  of  downright  beg- 
ging for  the  cause  of  education,  finally  collected  $60,000  wherewith  she 
established  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary  in  Massachusetts  in  the  autumn  of 
1837.  The  opposition  she  encountered  was  very  powerful,  for  in  those 
days  it  was  thought  wrong,  if  not  immoral,  for  girls  to  attend  school.  In 
fact,  as  late  as  1810  there  was  no  provision  anywhere  in  America  for  the 
education  of  girls.  Mary  Lyon  was  submitted  to  much  ridicule  for  insist- 
ing on  the  Mount  Holyoke  scholars  doing  a  certain  amount  of  housework 
every  day.  In  spite  of  all  the  criticisms,  pupils  flocked  to  the  new  institu- 
tion. The  American  public  soon  began  to  extend  its  endorsement  to  Mary 
Lyon's  favorite  saying:  "Educate  the  women,  and  men  will  be  educated." 

The  work  of  developing  the  normal  school  system  was  promulgated 
by  David  P.  Page  (1810-1848),  who  has  deserved  the  name  of  "The 
Normal  School  Leader."  No  book  on  the  subject  of  education  has  been 
more  widely  read  and  pondered  over  by  American  teachers  than  Page's 
"Theory  and  Practise  of  Teaching."  He,  too,  encountered  fierce  opposi- 
tion on  the  part  of  old-fashioned  teachers  and  politicians.  The  normal 
school  idea  was  considered  as  visionary.  Page  had  to  imitate  Mann's 

466 


(GREAT  AMERICAN  EDUCATORS 

tactics  and  present  his  case  to  the  public  in  a  series  of  addresses  throughout 
New  York  State.  Exhausted  by  the  fight,  he  died  in  his  thirty-eighth  year. 
His  book,  however,  has  remained  the  gospel  of  the  teaching  profession. 

To  Henry  Barnard  (1811-1900),  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  owe 
their  system  of  free  schools  which  for  the  past  fifty  years  have  ranked 
with  the  best  in  the  country.  A  lasting  monument  to  his  fame  is  the 
"American  Journal  of  Education,"  which  he  founded  and  supported,  sink- 
ing ultimately  his  entire  private  fortune  in  the  venture.  The  files  of  that 
journal  contain  an  enormous  amount  of  information  about  education  the 
world  over;  no  such  series  of  books  on  education  had  ever  been  published. 

A  notable  name  in  the  West  is  that  of  Newton  Bateman  (1822— 
1897).  No  higher  tribute  can  be  paid  to  him  than  to  characterize  him 
as  educational  leaders  of  this  country  have  done — "The  Horace  Mann  of 
the  West  or  the  Abraham  Lincoln  of  education."  Many  eminent  men 
arose  with  the  liberation  of  education:  John  Dudley  Philbrick  (1818- 
1886)  is  recognized  as  the  greatest  City  School  Superintendent;  Edward 
A.  Sheldon,  founder  of  the  Oswego  Teachers'  Training  School;  James  P. 
Wickersham  is  Pennsylvania's  famous  educator;  his  book  on  "School  Man- 
agement" remained  a  standard  for  over  a  quarter  of  a  century  and  has  been 
translated  into  many  foreign  languages,  being  used  at  present  by  all  the 
normal  schools  in  Japan.  Due  homage  must  be  rendered  to  men  like 
Mark  Hopkins,  Frederick  A.  P.  Barnard,  and  Charles  Finney;  their  lives 
were  spent  in  building  up  a  certain  institution  of  learning  rather  than  to- 
ward the  introduction  of  educational  reforms  of  general  interest. 

The  future  of  the  American  nation  rests  largely  in  the  control  of  the 
public  school  system.  It  is  here  that  we  are  training  each  generation  to 
assume  the  responsibilities  of  government.  Here  we  find  in  embryo  the 
business  men  of  the  future,  the  industrial  leaders,  the  statesmen,  the  me- 
chanics, tradesmen,  and  professional  men — all  must  come  from  the  ranks 
of  our  schools.  We  have  established  in  this  country  the  democracy  of 
education — and  it  is  to  this  principle  that  we  must  subscribe :  Education 
is  democracy;  it  is  emancipation  first  from  ignorance,  then  from  oppres- 
sion by  others,  then  from  bondage  to  self,  and  finally  it  is  a  complete  spir- 
itual awakening.  "Every  addition  to  true  knowledge,"  said  Mann,  "is  an 
addition  to  human  power"  and  consequently  to  the  ultimate  greatness  and 
permanency  of  national  existence. 


467 


PART  V  CHAPTER  XXI 


GREAT  AMERICAN  WOMEN 


"Woman's  empire,  holier,  more  refined, 

Moulds,  moves,  and  sways  the  fallen  yet  God-breathed  mind, 

Lifting  the  earth-crushed  heart  to  hope  and  heaven." 

—Kale's  "Empire  of  Woman," 


""W""^  ARTH'S  noblest  thing,"  remarks  Lowell,  "is  a  woman  per- 

L^        fected."     And  as  Macaulay  reflected:  "The  most  beautiful 

j    object  in  the  world  is  a  beautiful  woman" — a  woman  beauti- 

ful  in  character,  in  intellectual  poise,  in  achievement.     This 

epitomizes  the  American  woman  to-day  and  her  service  to  the  nation — 

"first  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts  of  her  countrymen." 

The  most  significant  spiritual  fact  of  the  Twentieth  Century  is  the 
struggle  going  in  the  breast  of  humanity  to  balance  and  readjust  sex. 
The  whole  human  race  is  at  last  becoming  vaguely  conscious  that  it  can- 
not move  onward  without  this  readjustment.  Therefore,  an  entirely  new 
conception  of  the  meaning  of  sex,  and  of  the  relation  of  men  and  women 
to  each  other,  are  being  born  out  of  this  struggle.  Woman's  economic 
freedom,  which  has  slumbered  for  ages,  awakes,  responsive  to  the  forces 
of  the  stern  world  of  man.  The  change  startles  the  world,  for  it  is  shat- 
tering age-long  customs,  and  one  of  the  results  of  this  revolution  is  that 
woman  is  emblazoning  her  name  in  the  light  of  action  and  history.  More 
women  are  actually  under  the  light  of  public  attention  at  this  moment, 
because  of  their  achievements,  than  there  were  through  the  whole  two  thou- 
sand years  preceding  the  Nineteenth  Century. 

Who  are  the  famous  American  women,  and  how  did  they  acquire  their 
fame?  According  to  Mrs.  Cora  Sutton  Castle,  who  is  regarded  as  an  au- 
thority on  this  subject,  there  are  in  all  history  the  names  of  868  women, 
each  of  whose  achievements  were  sufficient  to  give  her  permanent  record. 
Of  this  number  seventy-five  are  American  women,  a  very  large  number 
considering  the  short  history  of  the  United  States.  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher 
Stowe  is  the  most  widely  known  American  woman  in  history. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that,  with  the  increase  of  population  of  the 
American  people  by  every  ten  millions,  their  increase  in  eminent  women 
is  far  more  than  corresponding.  The  status  of  the  American  woman  has 
so  changed  that  her  world  fifty  years  ago  is  as  much  a  stranger  to  her 
world  to-day  as  the  Tenth  Century  is  to  the  Twentieth  Century.  This 

468 


OLDEST  COLLEGE  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES— William  and  Mary  College  was  founded  at 

Williamsburg,    Virginia,    in    1693 — Second    oldest    college    in    United    States,    with 

Harvard  first — First  American  college  to  establish  chairs  of  law  and  history. 


GLIMPSE    OF    PRINCETON    UNIVERSITY— This    institution    was    founded   in    Princeton,    New 

Jersey,  In  1746 — It  has  nearly  2,000  students — Its  productive  funds  are  nearly  $6,000,000 — 
<  Woodrow  Wilson  was  at  one  time  President  of  this  University. 


FIRST    COLLEGE    FOR    WOMEN    IN"    AMERICA — Vassar   College    is    located    at    Poughkeepsie, 

New  York — It  was  founded  in  1H01  "to  accomplish  for  young  women  what  other  colleges 

are  accomplishing  for  young  men"      This  institution   has  about   l.iiOO  students. 


EDUCATION    OF    WOMEN    IN    AMERICA — Smith    College    is    located    at    Northampton,    Mass- 
achusetts— It  was  founded  in  1871  and  was  among  the  first  to  recognize  music  and 
art  among  the  qualifications  for  a  degree — It  has  over  1,700  students. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  WOMEN 

great  change  in  her  position  has  been  brought  about  by  the  revolution  in 
her  education  and  the  wide  extension  of  her  employment.  No  woman  is 
making  such  progress  as  the  American  woman. 

Here  only  brief  sketches  of  a  few  names  taken  from  history  can  be 
given.  The  eminent  living  women  are  so  numerous  that  it  would  require 
more  than  a  chapter  of  this  book  simply  to  mention  their  names.  The  fol- 
lowing sketches  are  of  nine  representatives  of  famous  American  women. 

The  first  of  these  was  Deborah  Sampson,  a  school  teacher  born  in 
Plymouth  County,  Massachusetts,  1758.  At  the  age  of  twenty,  she  as- 
sumed male  attire  and  joined  the  Revolutionary  army.  She  enrolled  un- 
der the  name  of  Robert  Shirtliff  and  was  one  of  the  first  volunteers  in 
the  company  of  Captain  Nathan  Thayer,  of  Medway,  Massachusetts. 
She  took  part  in  many  brisk  actions  and  was  twice  wounded,  once  by  a 
sword  cut  on  the  left  side  of  the  head.  Her  companions  called  her  Molly 
in  allusion  to  her  bashful  behavior  and  her  beardless  face,  but  to  the  last 
day  she  escaped  detection,  even  when  she  was  taken  with  brain  fever  and 
almost  died.  Finally  a  physician  discovered  her  patriotic  fraud  and  sent 
her  with  a  personal  letter  to  George  Washington's  headquarters.  The 
great  man  received  her  without  speaking  one  single  word  and  handed  her 
a  discharge  from  service  together  with  a  round  sum  of  money.  After  the 
termination  of  the  war  she  married  Benjamin  Gannett,  of  Sharon,  Penn- 
sylvania. When  Washington  was  President  she  received  a  letter  inviting 
her  to  visit  the  seat  of  the  Government.  Congress  was  then  in  session,  and 
during  her  stay  at  the  capitol  a  bill  was  passed  granting  her  a  pension  in 
addition  to  certain  lands  which  she  was  to  receive  for  her  services  to  the 
country  in  a  military  capacity. 

Margaret  Fuller  (1810-1850),  who  was  the  most  brilliant  of  New 
England  women,  came  from  a  family  in  which  there  had  been  many  men 
of  unusual  intelligence.  All  her  life  she  was  fortunate  enough  to  enjoy 
the  acquaintance  and  the  friendship  of  the  leading  people  of  her  day. 
Her  first  meeting  with  Emerson,  when  she  was  about  twenty-five  years  old, 
had  a  decisive  influence  upon  the  whole  course  of  her  life.  He  saw  at  once 
what  a  superior  woman  she  was,  invited  her  to  Concord,  and,  when  it  be- 
came necessary  for  her,  owing  to  her  father's  death,  to  earn  a  living,  Emer- 
son introduced  her  to  many  people  whom  she  taught  or  before  whom  she 
lectured.  Her  first  literary  effort  was  a  translation  of  Eckerman's  con- 
versations with  Goethe,  when  she  was  only  twenty-eight  years  of  age. 
One  year  later  she  became  editor  of  the  Dial,  which  was  published  to  spread 
the  doctrine  of  transcendentalism.  After  she  had  held  that  position  for 
five  years,  she  was  invited  by  Horace  Greeley  to  take  charge  of  the 
Tribune's  literary  department.  Some  of  the  essays  she  published  in  the 

471 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

Dial  and  the  Tribune:  "Summer  on  the  Lakes,"  "Woman  in  the  igth  Cen- 
tury," "Papers  on  Literature  and  Art,"  have  been  frequently  reprinted  and 
live  in  our  literature  as  classics  of  their  kind. 

Margaret  Fuller's  character  made  her  perhaps  more  powerful  and 
better  known  than  her  writings.  Her  great  love  and  her  helpful  influence, 
her  active  mind,  her  strong  nature  left  a  very  deep  influence  on  all  those 
with  whom  she  ever  associated.  At  thirty-six  she  went  to  Europe  and 
added  many  great  names  to  her  list  of  friends.  In  England  she  was  most 
intimate  with  Thomas  Carlyle  and  in  France  with  George  Sand.  While 
in  Italy  she  married  Marquis  Ossoli  and,  as  Rome  was  then  under  siege, 
she  took  charge  of  one  of  the  hospitals  and  distinguished  herself  for  her 
zeal  and  devotion.  Soon  after  she  decided  to  return  to  America,  but  the 
vessel  on  which  she  sailed  was  wrecked  off  Fire  Island  and  she  was  drowned 
with  her  husband  and  child. 

Lucretia  Mott  (1793-1880)  was  one  of  the  first  women  in  this  coun- 
try to  take  a  decided  stand  against  slavery.  Before  the  names  of  Garri- 
son and  his  friends  were  heard,  she  began  to  use  her  influence  in  favor 
of  abolitionism.  She  taught  and  at  a  very  early  age  preached  in  Quaker 
meeting  houses  on  slavery,  temperance,  and  pacificism,  and  gained  so 
much  popularity  that  she  journeyed  over  the  country  addressing  groups  of 
Friends.  She  and  her  husband  were  appointed,  together  with  Garrison, 
and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stanton,  to  represent  America  at  the  World's  Anti-slav- 
ery Convention  in  London  in  1839,  but  with  the  other  women  she  was  ex- 
cluded from  participation  in  the  meetings.  By  Garrison's  efforts,  "break- 
fasts" were  arranged  at  which  they  were  allowed  to  express  their  opinions 
before  the  members  of  the  congress.  Lucretia  Mott  believed  that  women 
should  have  perfect  equality  with  men,  and,  when  the  first  Woman's  Rights 
convention  met  at  Genesee  Falls,  her  husband  presided  and  she  proved 
one  of  the  most  active  members.  Besides  being  an  eloquent  speaker  and 
an  able  worker,  Mrs.  Mott  was  a  model  housekeeper,  who  trained  her 
children  carefully,  and  loved  her  husband  whose  views  coincided  so  com- 
pletely with  her  own. 

The  career  of  Dorothea  Dix  (1802-1887)  is  a  romance  of  philan- 
thropy which  the  world  cannot  afford  to  forget.  She  has  been  called  the 
most  useful  and  distinguished  woman  that  America  has  produced.  As  the 
founder  of  institutions  of  mercy  she  has  no  peer  in  history.  She  was  first 
a  school  teacher  and  then  a  governess  in  the  family  of  the  famous  Dr. 
Charming,  but  ill  health  compelled  her  to  abandon  an  educational  ca- 
reer. In  spite  of  her  weakened  condition,  however,  she  engaged  in  phil- 
anthropic work.  The  first  thing  that  she  did  was  to  improve  the  condition 
of  the  women  inmates  of  the  East  Cambridge  jail,  where  she  taught  Sun- 

472 


GREAT  AMERICAN  WOMEN 

day  School.  For  two  years,  note-book  in  hand,  she  traveled  from  town 
to  town,  investigating  the  condition  of  the  various  jails,  after  which  she 
sent  seventeen  appeals  to  as  many  legislatures,  describing  the  condition  of 
prisoners  kept  in  "cages,  closets,  cellars,  stalls,  pens,  chained,  naked,  beaten 
with  rods  and  lashed  into  obedience." 

The  result  of  her  exposures  was  the  enlargement  of  three  asylums, 
at  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  and  Utica,  New 
York;  the  establishment  of  thirteen  asylums,  one  in  each  of  the  following 
States:  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Kentucky,  Tennes- 
see, Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Alabama,  North  Carolina,  Maryland;  and  the 
Hospital  for  Insane  Soldiers  in  Washington,  D.  C.  She  proposed,  in  1850, 
a  larger  scheme  of  philanthropy  than  had  ever  been  projected  before.  She 
petitioned  Congress  to  appropriate  12,000,000  acres  of  public  lands  for  the 
benefit  of  the  indigent  insane,  deaf  mutes  and  blind.  The  bill  passed  both 
houses,  but  President  Pierce  vetoed  it.  Dorothea  Dix  served  as  su- 
perintendent of  women  nurses  during  the  four  years  of  the  Civil  War, 
after  which  she  returned  to  her  former  work  and  continued  it  until  1881, 
promoting  the  erection  of  hospitals  and  visiting  those  that  had  already  been 
established.  She  built  a  hospital  in  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  and  died  there 
in  1887. 

Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  (1812-1896),  the  most  famous  of  American 
women,  was  the  author  of  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  which  appeared  nine 
years  before  the  Civil  War  and  was  undoubtedly  the  most  widely  circu- 
lated book  in  America.  More  than  any  other  writings  and  more  than 
all  the  speeches  of  all  the  abolition  orators  did  it  shape  public  opinion 
in  the  North  as  far  as  slavery  was  concerned.  It  was  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin" 
that  built  up  the  Republican  Party  and  raised  volunteers  when  the  great 
conflict  became  unavoidable.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  great  divine,  Lyman  Beecher,  and  she  was  one  of  the  most  gifted 
members  of  the  famous  Beecher  family.  While  in  Cincinnati  she  mar- 
ried Professor  Stowe,  then  president  of  Lane  Theological  Seminary,  which 
her  father  had  helped  to  found.  She  lived  for  some  time  on  the  boundary 
line  of  the  slave  States,  and  many  a  time  she  saw  fugitive  slaves  who  had 
crossed  the  Ohio  River  from  the  Kentucky  shore  dragged  back  to  the  life 
they  hated  in  spite  of  what  white  people  could  do  for  them.  The  Aboli- 
tionist party  was  organized  then,  but  was  despised,  even  in  the  North. 

Mrs.  Stowe  thought  that  if  the  world  could  realize  the  negroes'  suf- 
ferings and  the  degrading  effect  which  slavery  had  on  white  people,  pub- 
lic opinion  might  change.  It  was  then  that  she  conceived  the  idea  of 
writing  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  and  though  very  poor  and  obliged  to  care 
for  several  young  children,  she  undertook  her  great  work.  Before  this 

473 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

she  had  written  stories,  but  her  name  had  never  attracted  much  notice. 
Her  book  appeared  in  instalments  in  the  Washington  National  Era.  Be- 
sides creating  a  tremendous  impression  all  over  the  States,  "Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin"  brought  its  author  fame  and  wealth.  The  most  eminent  people 
in  the  world  entered  into  correspondence  with  her  and  her  success  as  a 
literary  woman  was  assured.  Out  of  the  fifteen  volumes  which  she  pub- 
lished, only  two  have  retained  a  certain  popularity. 

Susan  B.  Anthony  (1820-1906),  like  Lucretia  Mott,  was  born  a 
Quakeress  in  Adams,  Massachusetts.  She  taught  school  from  the  age 
of  fifteen  to  thirty,  and  then  became  very  active  in  the  total  abstinence 
and  anti-slavery  movements.  After  the  Civil  War,  she  devoted  herself 
entirely  to  the  woman  suffrage  movement.  In  1868  she  founded  The 
Revolution,  a  women's  rights  paper,  which  she  edited  for  three  years. 
She  suffered  valiantly  for  the  cause  which  she  advocated,  and  in  1872  de- 
cided to  test  the  election  law  by  casting  a  vote.  She  was  arrested,  tried, 
and  fined,  but  this  did  not  discourage  her  in  any  way.  She  spoke  through- 
out the  United  States  and  England,  took  part  in  many  State  campaigns, 
and  appeared  before  several  congressional  committees.  She  contributed 
to  the  leading  magazines,  and,  with  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton  and 
Mrs.  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  published  an  extensive  history  of  the  suffrage 
movement  in  three  volumes. 

Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton  (1815-1902),  who  had  attended  the  Lon- 
don Anti-slavery  Congress  with  Lucretia  Mott,  was  the  wife  of  an  ardent 
abolitionist,  Henry  B.  Stanton.  She  had  for  her  time  an  unusual  educa- 
tion, having  studied  mathematics,  Latin,  and  Greek  and  having  won  a 
scholarship.  She  graduated  at  the  head  of  the  class  at  the  Johnstown 
Academy  and  felt  very  indignant  when  she  was  not  allowed  to  enter  col- 
lege, although  the  boys,  who  in  scholarship  had  ranked  after  her,  were 
granted  that  privilege.  She  helped  her  husband  in  his  anti-slavery  work 
and  soon  took  up  the  cause  of  women's  rights  under  the  influence  of  the 
little  Quakeress,  Lucretia  Mott.  The  way  in  which  she  had  been  treated 
at  the  London  Convention  aroused  in  her  the  indignation  which  she  had 
felt  at  the  end  of  her  academic  course  over  the  disabilities  of  women,  and 
she  resolved  to  do  all  that  there  was  in  her  power  to  have  woman's  posi- 
tion changed.  It  was  partly  due  to  her  efforts  that  the  first  Women's 
Rights  Conference  met  at  Seneca  Falls  in  1848.  Ever  afterward,  she  de- 
voted all  her  time  and  energy  to  creating  a  feeling  favorable  to  the  grant- 
ing of  equal  rights  to  women. 

Frances  E.  Willard  (1839-1898)  was  the  greatest  woman  orator  that 
this  country  has  ever  produced  and  one  of  the  greatest  woman  leaders  of  her 
time.  She  possessed  eloquence,  pathos,  and  humor  to  such  a  degree  that 

474 


UNIVERSITIES   IX  THE   SOUTHWEST — This  is  the  University  of  Texas,   located   at  Austin- 
It  was  founded  in  1883 — The  University  is  conducted  by  the  State  and  has  about  2,700 
students — It  exerts  a  wide  influence  in  the  affairs  of  the  Southwest. 


!  I  HI  I  if  if  111 


H'211'fli) 


CLOISTEK   CAUDKX   AT   I5KYX   MAWK  COLLEGE— This   educational   institution    forewomen   is 

located  at  P.ryn  Mawr.  Pennsylvania — It  was  founded  in   isso  and  has  about  50O  students 

— This  photograph  was   t:ik<'ii   during  an  open-air  play  near  the  library. 


BIRTHPLACE    OF    FEMALE    EDUCATION    IN    AMERICA — This;    is    Mount    Ilolyoke    College   at 
South   Hartley.  Massachusetts — It  was  founded  as  a  seminary  by  Mary  Lyon  in  18:>(>  and 
became  a   college  in   1S81 — This  institution  is  a  pioneer  in  female  education. 


AMERICAN  COLLEGE  CIULS  AT  WELLESLEY— This   institution  is  located   at   Wellesley.  Mass- 
achusetts     It  was  founded  in   1N~5  and  numbers  about  1.50(1  students — This  picturesque 
scene  shows  the  girls  rowing  on  the  lake,  a  feature  of  their  student  life. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  WOMEN 

she  was  surpassed  by  few  platform  speakers,  and  she  threw  into  the  great 
reform  work  for  temperance  an  indomitable  masculine  energy.  Inciden- 
tally, Miss  Willard  made  a  great  speech  at  a  Woman's  Missionary  meeting 
in  Chicago  in  1870  and  spoke  of  her  vision  of  a  new  chivalry — the  modern 
crusade  which  the  women  of  her  country  should  enter  upon;  the  chivalry  of 
justice;  the  justice  that  gives  to  woman  to  be  all  that  God  meant  her  to  be. 
The  next  day  a  wealthy,  well-known  Methodist  called  on  her  and  en- 
treated her  to  use  the  remarkable  gift  that  she  undoubtedly  possessed  and 
to  speak  out  to  the  world  that  which  God  had  put  into  her  heart.  She  ap- 
pealed to  her  mother  for  advice,  and  that  large  hearted  woman  told  her 
to  enter  upon  the  work.  The  next  day  she  addressed  a  great  audience 
and  on  the  following  morning  she  awoke  to  find  that  her  eloquence  had 
made  her  famous. 

The  great  temperance  movement  swept  the  country  in  1874,  and 
Miss  Willard  was  the  torch-bearer.  She  was  made  President  of  the 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  of  Illinois  in  1878.  Her  eloquence 
now  reached  the  ears  of  the  habitues  of  the  saloons,  and,  looking  into  their 
pinched  faces,  she  was  reminded  of  the  hunger  which  she  had  suffered  in 
the  last  year  or  two  while  working  without  money.  The  next  year  she  was 
elected  President  of  the  National  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union, 
and  in  1881  she  made  a  tour  of  all  the  Southern  States,  and  not  once  did 
she  offend  the  South.  She  was  the  first  to  conceive  the  international 
scheme  of  binding  women  in  a  strong  bond  of  union  the  world  over.  It 
was  this  grand  conception  that  culminated  in  the  magnificent  demonstra- 
tion accorded  her  in  Albert  Hall,  London,  in  1897.  She  was  called  "the 
best  loved  woman  in  the  United  States."  Congress  gave  her  statue  a 
place  in  Statuary  Hall  in  the  rotunda  of  the  Capitol,  and  she  was  called 
the  "Uncrowned  Queen  of  America"  on  that  occasion. 

Clara  Barton  (1821-1912)  began  her  career  as  a  school  teacher, 
and  later,  while  working  in  the  Patent  Office  in  Washington,  she  discov- 
ered her  real  vocation  when  the  first  train  loaded  with  wounded  pulled 
into  Washington  on  April  19th,  1861.  She  set  out  to  nurse  and  feed 
the  victims  of  the  war  and  to  cheer  them  up  by  reading  to  them  news- 
paper accounts  of  the  actions  in  which  they  had  been  injured.  This,  how- 
ever, did  not  satisfy  her.  She  applied  for  a  pass  beyond  the  firing  line 
and  obtained  it.  No  one  employed  her,  and  no  one  encouraged  her  at 
first,  but  it  was  not  long  before  the  quartermaster  recognized  the  value  of 
her  work  and  began  to  honor  all  her  requisitions.  She  actually  organized 
the  hospital  service  of  the  Northern  armies  and  compiled  carefully  the 
hospital  lists.  After  the  war,  she  conducted  a  vast  correspondence,  ac- 
counting to  inquirers  for  over  thirty  thousand  men  dead  or  alive. 

477 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

When  in  Geneva  in  1869,  she  heard  of  the  International  Red  Cross 
Society,  which  had  been  recently  founded.  A  year  later,  she  could  watch 
its  wonderful  work  during  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  in  which  she  served 
as  a  nurse.  After  her  return  to  this  country,  she  labored  for  five  years  to 
found  an  American  branch  of  the  Red  Cross.  In  1882  President  Arthur 
showed  himself  willing  to  second  her  efforts. 

The  first  American  Red  Cross  Society  sprang  into  existence,  with  Clara 
Barton  as  its  president.  She  modified  the  aims  of  the  society,  to  enable  it 
to  render  services  in  time  of  peace.  At  present  that  great  society  ministers 
to  all  those  that  need  its  services.  Its  stamps  are  sold  to  help  the  con- 
sumptive, and,  wherever  a  great  conflagration  breaks  out,  or  wherever  a 
flood  or  an  earthquake  makes  thousands  homeless,  the  Red  Cross  is  there 
ready  for  work  of  mercy. 

One  of  the  most  useful  and  best  beloved  women  of  this  country  was 
Mrs.  Mary  A.  Livermore,  who  passed  away  a  few  years  ago.  The  name 
of  Dr.  Maria  Mitchell  also  well  deserves  to  be  included  in  this  list. 
While  in  charge  of  the  chair  of  astronomy  at  Vassar,  she  discovered  a 
new  comet,  a  discovery  regarded  of  so  much  importace  in  European  sci- 
entific circles  that  on  her  visit  abroad  she  was  accorded  great  distinction. 
Dr.  Mitchell  was  one  of  the  two  first  American  women  to  receive  the 
honor  of  being  admitted  as  members  to  the  American  Society  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science,  the  other  woman  being  Mrs.  Elvira  Lincoln  Phelps, 
who  distinguished  herself  by  popularizing  the  study  of  the  science  of  bi- 
ology a  generation  ago. 

Every  profession  and  vocation  now  contains  the  names  of  eminent 
women.  Within  the  last  thirty  years,  more  than  twenty-five  American 
women  have  attained  eminent  distinction  in  literature.  Some  of  these 
names  are  household  words  among  the  American  people.  There  is  not  a 
well  read  girl  in  the  country  and  scarcely  a  well  read  man  who  has  not 
perused  the  stories  of  Louisa  M.  Alcott.  It  is  true  that  she  belongs  to  an 
early  generation,  but  her  work  is  still  perennially  vital  in  the  heart  of  the 
American  people,  which  is  more  than  can  be  said  for  some  of  the  eminent 
male  writers  who  were  her  contemporaries.  And  every  one  is  familiar  with 
the  names  of  Mrs.  Spofford,  Miss  Orne  Jewett,  Mrs.  May  Halleck  Foote, 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Stuart  Phelps  Ward,  "Octave  Thanet"  (Miss  Alice 
French),  "Charles  Edgebert  Craddock"  (Miss  Murfree)  and  the  author  of 
"The  Quick  and  the  Dead,"  Constance  Fennimore  Woolsen,  Frances  Hodg- 
sen  Burnett,  Mary  Mapes  Dodge,  Mrs.  Deland,  Alice  Gary,  Louise  Imogen 
Ginney,  Edith  Thomas,  "Olive  Thorne"  Miller,  Mrs.  Jackson,  and  not 
the  least  among  them  is  the  American  woman  in  Italy  who  assumed  the 
famous  pen  name  "Ouida." 

478 


GREAT  AMERICAN  WOMEN 

All  these  names  belong  to  the  history  of  American  letters,  and  the 
works  of  their  successors  now  crowd  our  libraries  and  book  stalls.  They 
are  a  still  more  numerous  company,  for  there  are  now  more  women  writing 
in  America  than  there  were  women  writing  in  all  the  world  forty  years  ago. 
And  among  them  such  women  as  Agnes  Replier,  Edith  Wharton,  Gertrude 
Atherton,  "Kate  Douglas  Wiggin,"  Charlotte  Perkins  Gilman,  Mrs.  Wil- 
kins  Freeman,  Mary  Johnson,  Mrs.  Glasgow,  Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox,  Ida 
Tarbell,  Elizabeth  Jordan,  and  Elizabeth  Bisland  deserve  to  be  mentioned 
for  at  least  the  contemporary  fame  which  they  have  won. 

And  there  are  a  number  of  other  women  like  Helen  Gould  Shepard, 
Jane  Addams,  Mrs.  Russell  Sage,  Mrs.  E.  H.  Harriman,  and  Sister  Rose 
Hawthorne,  who  have  become  famous  on  account  of  their  great  usefulness 
to  the  American  people.  These  women  are  much  loved  by  the  people. 

One  of  the  most  encouraging  features  in  the  progress  of  woman  in 
America  is  the  important  position  she  is  now  taking  in  the  advancement  of 
science.  Miss  Edith  Mosher  has  made  a  reputation  for  herself  in  the  study 
of  trees  in  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan.  Mrs.  D.  D.  Gailliard  is  well-known 
in  the  world  of  botany  for  the  work  she  has  done  with  orchids  at  Panama. 
Mrs.  Myrtle  Shepherd  Francis,  of  Ventura,  California,  is  now  known  as  the 
"female  Burbank."  She  experiments  with  old  flowers.  Dr.  Elizabeth 
Babcock  and  Miss  Alice  Johnson  have  rendered  excellent  service  to  science 
at  the  Carnegie  Institute,  Boston,  in  their  work  in  nutrition  and  diet.  The 
science  of  archaeology  has  acknowledged  its  debt  to  Miss  Edith  M.  Hall 
in  her  noted  work  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  Wellesley  College 
has  also  contributed  original  results  of  value  to  this  science.  In  the  As- 
tronomical Observatory  of  the  Carnegie  Institute  on  Mt.  Wilson,  six 
women  are  employed  on  the  staff.  Miss  Ella  Flagg  Young,  the  Su- 
perintendent of  the  Chicago  Schools,  and  chosen  a  few  years  ago  as 
residing  officer  of  the  National  Educational  Association,  is  an  eminent 
woman  in  the  field  of  education.  From  no  list  of  contemporary  famous 
American  women  could  be  omitted  the  name  of  Dr.  Anna  Howard  Shaw, 
who  has  led  the  battle  for  woman  suffrage.  Dr.  Shaw  belongs  to  the  min- 
istry. The  whole  country  knows  the  distinguished  Washington  lawyer, 
Mrs.  Belva  Lockwood,  who  was  the  first  woman  to  practice  before  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States.  Nearly  every  State  Supreme  Court 
has  its  women  practitioners.  Mrs.  Mary  Margaret  Bartelme  is  the  pre- 
siding judge  of  the  Childrens'  Court  in  Chicago  and  well-known  for  her 
great  tact  and  wisdom. 

Some  of  the  women  mentioned  above  have  not  historically  won  fame, 
but  they  have  achieved  contemporary  eminence.  Many  of  them  have  done 
more  than  their  famous  historic  predecessors. 

479 


PART  VI  CHAPTER  XXII 

GRANDEUR  OF  AMERICAN 
SCENERY 


"All  are  but  parts  of  one  stupendous  whole, 
Whose  body  Nature  is,  and  God  the  soul." 

— Pope. 


THE  Americans  can  proclaim  with  Milton:  "Accuse  not  Nature, 
she  hath  done  her  part;  do  thou  but  thine !"  The  American  con- 
tinent is  the  garden-land  of  the  world;  its  beautiful  rivers  flow 
through  fertile  valleys,  garlanded  in  multi-colored  foliage;  its 
majestic  mountains  lift  their  heads  far  into  the  sky  like  great  watch-towers. 
Nature  has  reflected  all  her  moods  on  the  American  continent. 

While  the  blue  seas  sweep  the  southern  shores  under  drooping  palms 
and  tropical  skies,  the  snow-clad  peaks  stand  guard  over  the  ice-bound  bor- 
ders of  the  Arctic  north.  Every  degree  of  temperature — the  fruits  and 
bloom  of  all  climates,  in  contrast  with  frigid  barrenness,  make  this  continent 
a  veritable  planet  in  itself.  There  are  rocky  pinnacles,  chasms,  glaciers, 
extinct  volcanoes,  geysers,  canons,  waterfalls,  lakes,  rivers,  plains — all  the 
creations  of  nature  and  geological  wizardry. 

Americans  are  discovering  that  American  scenery  is  just  as  picturesque 
and  much  more  grandiose  and  wild  than  the  Alps  of  Switzerland.  Swit- 
zerland has  no  such  groves  on  its  mountain-sides,  and  even  the  giant  cedars 
of  Libanus  cannot  compare  with  the  big  trees  of  California.  Where  else 
could  one  find  those  chasms  of  fearful  depth  and  length  for  which  a  new 
word  canon  had  to  be  added  to  the  vocabulary? 

All  the  savage  beauty  of  the  Norwegian  fjords  adorns  the  coast  of 
Maine.  Mount  Desert,  some  hundred  miles  from  Portland,  surrounded 
by  the  sea  and  crowned  with  mountains,  affords  the  only  instance  along 
our  Atlantic  coast  where  mountains  stand  in  close  neighborhood  to  the  sea. 
Upon  its  shores  are  masses  of  cyclopean  rocks  heaped  up  in  titanic  dis- 
order, reminding  the  onlooker  of  the  most  picturesque  medieval  fortresses 
of  the  Old  World.  This  island  is  about  one  hundred  square  miles  in  area. 
It  bears  thirteen  peaks,  the  highest  being  Green  Mountain,  from  which  the 
view  is  most  magnificent,  for  the  forests  of  Mount  Desert  are  crowded  with 
evergreens,  tall  firs,  and  spruce  trees,  and  the  slopes  of  every  peak  descend 
into  beautiful  blue  lakes. 

Passing  from  Maine  into  New  Hampshire,  the  traveler,  seeking  relief 
from  summer  heat  in  the  lowlands,  can  range  over  a  high  tableland  forty- 

480 


STUPENDOUS  MOUNTAIN  CANYONS   IN  GKEAT   WEST— The  Royal  Gorge  in  Colorado— More  than 

200  majestic  peaks  lift  their  heads  Into  the  clouds- — I'orpondlcular  KOI-JTOS  drop  a  mile  in  depth. 

Great  railroads  wind  their  way  through  these  mountains. 


NATURE'S   MASTKRI'IKCK    IN    UOCKY    MOUNTAINS — Here  wo  look  upon  the  scenic  grandeur  of  the  "Amer- 
ican Alps" — Its  beauties  are  equal  to  those  of  Switzerland  or  Italy — Jlere  130  snow-capped 
peaks  pierce  the  clouds — Fifty  peaks  rise  above  14,000  feet 


l-'AMors  I'AIXTINO   BY  AN  AMKHK'AN  ARTIST— This  canvas  is  from  the  celebrated  collection  by  Albert 
Bierstadt  (1830-1902) — His  paintings  of  the  scenic  grandi'iir  ..'  America   pave  him  interna- 
tional reputation — lie  was  elected  to  the  National  Academy  In  1860. 


_   CANYON  OF  COLORADO— It  is  :500  miles  long,  nearly  a  mile  deep,  and  about  ten  mil< 
wide  from  rim  to  riin—  A  river  flows  through  this  gigantic  gorge — Its  rocky  sides  are 
tnugTiUicctitly  aculpturod  with   pinnacle*  and  bo-called  temple*. 


GRANDEUR  OF  AMERICAN  SCENERY, 

five  miles  in  length  by  thirty  in  width,  on  which  rise  some  of  the  highest 
mountains  of  Atlantic  regions — Mount  Washington,  6,285  feet>  Mounts 
Adams,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  all  above  5,000  feet  in  height.  Sev- 
eral valleys,  watered  by  streams  which  run  into  the  Connecticut  or  Canadian 
lakes,  lie  in  this  wilderness.  The  most  picturesque  of  all  is  the  Saco  Valley, 
which  spreads  toward  Lake  Winnipiseoges,  surrounded  by  the  Sandwich 
and  Cesipee  hills,  of  which  White  Face  and  Chocorua  are  the  loftiest  peaks. 
The  most  impressive  view  of  Mount  Washington  is  from  Mount  Monroe. 
This  peak  rises  in  a  lofty  cone  and  shines  with  bare,  gray  stones  across  a 
wide  plateau  strewn  with  boulders.  This  elevated  plain  is  about  1,000 
feet  above  the  sea.  Patches  of  grass  and  hardy  wild  flowers  appear  in  the 
crevices  of  the  rocks,  and  now  and  then  one  comes  upon  small  tarns  or 
mountain  ponds. 

The  Lake  of  the  Clouds,  the  head-water  of  the  Amoonoosuc,  is  the 
most  beautiful  of  these  crystal  waters.  Passing  around  the  side  of  Mount 
Monroe,  one  looks  into  a  frightful  abyss  known  as  Bates'  Gulf.  Clouds 
and  masses  of  vapor  hang  against  its  precipitous  sides,  and  gigantic  rocks 
strew  the  bottom  of  the  gorge.  Opposite  Eagle  Cliff  there  rises  Profile 
Mountain,  covered  with  forests  far  up  its  side,  over  which,  looking  down 
the  valley  from  a  height  of  2,000  feet,  appears  the  wonder  of  the  region — 
the  Old  Stone  Face  as  clearly  defined  as  if  chiseled  by  a  sculptor.  Haw- 
thorne has  written  some  of  his  most  charming  pages  about  this  curious  mass 
of  granite  blocks,  which  form  an  overhanging  brow,  a  large,  clearly  defined 
nose,  and  a  sharp,  decisive  chin. 

We  must  now  leave  New  England,  with  its  many  beautiful  vistas  of 
mountain,  lake,  and  seacoast  and  pass  into  the  valley  of  the  Hudson.  This 
river  rivals  in  beauty  the  most  picturesque  parts  of  the  Rhine  and  of  the 
Danube  valleys.  The  Old  World  streams  are  romantic  in  their  feudal 
castles  that  rise  on  every  hill,  commanding  their  banks,  but  the  Hudson  is 
a  more  powerful  stream  than  the  Rhine  or  Danube,  and  the  magnificent 
Palisades  are  higher  and  more  savage  than  the  Rhineland  hills.  For  thirty 
miles  or  more,  their  wall  of  vertical  and  columned  rock  rises  to  a  height  of 
three  hundred  and  sometimes  five  hundred  feet,  attaining  their  greatest 
magnitude  in  enormous  and  jutting  buttresses,  that  thrust  themselves  into 
the  river  opposite  Ossining.  Here  and  there,  the  wall  is  cut  by  deep  and 
narrow  ravines.  Through  these  fissures  in  the  cliffs  are  gained  some  of  the 
most  perfect  views  of  river  and  landscape  in  the  world. 

The  region  is  rich  with  legendary  and  historical  associations.  There 
is  Stony  Point,  where  Anthony  Wayne  led  his  men  through  the  July  mid- 
night in  1776;  Treason  Hill,  where  Arnold,  the  traitor,  matured  his  plans 
and  where  Andre,  the  spy,  took  the  papers  that  betrayed  the  secret.  Finally, 

485 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

the  whole  region  is  peopled  with  creatures  of  Irving's  fancy — Rip  Van 
Winkle,  Icabod  Crane,  the  "headless  horseman,"  and  all  the  folk  of  the 
Catskill  legends. 

We  find  many  interesting  hills  and  streams  and  picturesque  lakes  along 
the  southern  Palisade  country.  Greenwood  Lake,  on  the  boundary  line 
between  New  Jersey  and  New  York,  has  been  compared  to  the  famous 
Windermere  Lake  of  England.  The  hills  are  rugged  and  wild — Eagle 
Rock  and  Washington  Rock. 

Some  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  from  the  sea  in  the  northern  Pal- 
isades, rises  a  cluster  of  mountains  to  which  the  early  Dutch  settlers  gave 
the  name  of  Catskills.  They  approach  to  within  eight  miles  of  the  Hud- 
son, and,  like  an  advanced  bastion,  command  the  valley  for  a  considerable 
distance.  They  slope  gradually  on  the  western  side  toward  the  central  part 
of  New  York  State,  running  off  into  spurs  and  ridges  in  every  direction. 
On  the  eastern  side,  on  the  contrary,  they  rise  abruptly  from  the  valley  to 
a  height  of  more  than  four  thousand  feet,  resembling,  when  looked  at  from 
the  river,  a  huge  fist  with  the  palm  downward,  the  peaks  representing  the 
knuckles  and  the  glens  and  cloves  the  spaces  between  them.  The  traveler 
seldom  sees  a  greater  variety  of  hill  and  valley.  The  Catskills  contain 
some  of  the  most  picturesque  scenery  in  the  world.  The  beauties  of  the 
Clove  and  the  falls  of  Kauterskill  have  been  immortalized  by  Irving, 
Cooper,  and  Bryant. 

The  Adirondacks  is  a  savage  mountain  forest  of  immense  area  in  the 
most  advanced  State  of  the  Union.  This  region  is  therefore  an  anomaly. 
Until  late  years  it  has  been  given  over  to  solitude  and  has  had  no  counter- 
part on  this  continent  east  of  what  may  be  called  the  Far  West.  It  pos- 
sesses a  labyrinth  of  beautiful  lakes  and  rivers,  such  as  is  to  be  found  in  no 
other  mountain  forest.  Every  year  thousands  of  excursionists  from  the 
great  urban  districts  invade  its  silent  valleys,  climb  its  rugged  cliffs,  and 
canoe  on  its  limpid  lakes.  The  Adirondacks  is  becoming  one  of  the  great 
summer  playgrounds  of  the  nations  and  yet  there  are  many  hundreds  of 
square  miles  in  this  region  that  has  never  been  trodden  by  the  foot  of  the 
white  man,  except  the  surveyor.  The  wild  beauty  of  this  region  is  a  con- 
tinuous discovery. 

Niagara  Falls,  with  its  Whirlpool  and  Whirlpool  Rapids,  is  conceded 
to  be  the  sublimest  of  the  natural  wonders  of  the  world.  Five  great  in- 
land, fresh  water  seas  hurl  themselves  over  these  falls  165  feet  high  on 
their  way  to  the  Atlantic  at  the  rate  of  20,000,000  cubic  feet  of  water 
a  minute.  Nowhere  on  this  globe,  three-fourths  of  the  surface  of  which 
is  covered  with  water,  is  there  to  be  seen  such  a  grand  exhibition  of  the 
power  of  water.  Men  and  women  from  over  all  the  world,  who  see  the  sun 

486 


GRANDEUR  OF  AMERICAN  SCENERY 

as  moles,  who  look  at  the  sea  with  blank  souls,  and  for  whom  a  land- 
scape or  a  skyline  with  its  mountain  peaks  or  the  stars  of  the  night  are 
nothing  but  nature's  hieroglyphics,  will  sit  for  hours  and  days  at  a  time 
by  the  Niagara  River,  literally  spellbound  by  the  spectacle  of  the  mad, 
thundering  waters.  The  true  psychology  of  Niagara  Falls  is  yet  to  be 
written,  but  it  is  a  spectacle  that  has  borne  many  a  spectator  away  from 
himself  and  out  of  his  clay.  Nature  summons  its  formative  might  to  im- 
press man  with  the  presence  of  God  in  the  fall  of  a  river.  The  re- 
fined, educative  value  of  Niagara  is  inestimable.  Father  Hennepin,  who 
first  viewed  it  in  1678,  is  said  to  have  been  moved  to  tears  by  its  power. 

The  glory  of  Niagara  is  rivaled  by  the  magnificent  falls  half-way  be- 
tween the  great  cataract  and  New  York  City — the  Trenton  Falls,  which 
are  fourteen  miles  from  Utica.  The  River  Kanata  here  makes  a  torrentu- 
ous  descent  from  the  mountains  into  the  valley  by  a  series  of  six  falls, 
every  one  of  which  has  a  perfectly  distinct  character  owing  to  the  varied 
geological  formation  along  the  bed  of  the  river. 

We  would  linger  along  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Thousand  Islands 
on  the  Canadian  borders,  but  these  pastel  sketches  require  us  to  hasten 
across  the  vast  continent  on  a  rapid  sight-seeing  journey.  Let  us  stop  a 
moment  on  the  small  Island  of  Mackinac,  in  the  Straits  of  Mackinac,  con- 
necting Lakes  Huron  and  Michigan.  It  contains  in  its  six  square  miles 
some  of  the  wildest  and  most  picturesque  scenery  of  the  continent.  The 
Arch  Rock  is  a  natural  bridge  one  hundred  and  forty-five  feet  high  and 
only  three  feet  wide,  spanning  a  chasm  with  airy  grace.  Fairy  Arch  is  a 
similar  formation  rising  from  the  sands  of  the  beach.  There  is  also  the 
Sugar  Loaf,  a  conical  rock  134  feet  high,  breaking  up  the  monotony  of  a 
grassy  plain;  there  is  Robinson's  Folly,  a  stern  bluff  on  the  water's  edge; 
Lover's  Leap,  a  strange  pile  of  rocks  towering  over  the  blue-green  spruces; 
while  the  woods  covering  the  small  island  contain  very  beautiful  trees. 

Passing  down  from  the  Great  Lakes,  we  come  to  the  Blue  Ridge  Moun- 
tains in  Pennsylvania.  Here  we  find  the  glacier  rocks  cut  in  two  by  the 
mighty  Delaware  River,  which  opens  through  it  a  passage  or  canon  called 
the  Delaware  Water  Gap.  The  two  mountains  which  form  this  great 
chasm  are  named  fittingly — the  one  on  the  Pennsylvania  side  is  Minsi,  in 
memory  of  the  Indians  who  made  the  region  their  hunting  ground;  the  one 
on  the  opposite  bank  is  the  Tammany,  in  memory  of  the  grand  chief  who 
under  the  elm  tree  of  Shackamaxon  made  a  covenant  with  William  Penn. 
The  bold  face  of  Tammany  exhibits  vast,  frowning  masses  of  naked  rock, 
while  the  densely  wooded  Minsi  displays  a  thicket  of  evergreen,  with  the 
railway  tracks  skirting  it  by  the  water's  edge.  One  of  the  curiosities  of 
the  Gap  is  a  wonderful  lake  on  the  summit  of  Tammany.  Masses  of  bare 

487 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

graystone  stand  about  its  margin.  In  this  unbroken  solitude  is  a  single 
Indian  grave  in  a  narrow  cleft  of  rock. 

Along  the  winding  range  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  we  view  many  objects  of 
interest  and  beauty.  Crossing  the  North  Fork  of  the  Cacapon  River  into 
West  Virginia,  one  passes  the  imposing  cliffs  of  Candy  Castle.  A  few 
miles  distant  along  the  same  stream  is  the  famous  natural  ice-house  called 
the  Ice  Mountain.  Then  near  Romney  we  have  Hanging  Rock  and  the 
view  from  the  yellow  banks.  Farther  on,  we  pass  through  Mill  Spring 
Gap  and  wonder  at  the  long,  regularly  scalloped  ridge  of  the  Trough 
Mountains.  A  few  miles  from  Petersburg  one  reaches  the  pinnacles,  one 
of  which  bears  a  crude  resemblance  to  the  Obelisk  of  Luxor,  and  the  other 
to  a  monumental  spire  in  Gothic  style.  Cathedral  Rock  is  the  wonder  of 
the  region — a  vast  minster  with  a  great  portal,  a  pointed  arch,  a  tall  spire 
with  its  pinnacles,  turrets,  oriels,  and  double  arched  windows.  Below, 
the  foundations  are  laid  in  square  cut  blocks;  the  sides  are  ribbed  with  in- 
clining buttresses;  stranger  than  all,  the  short,  unfinished  tower  has  not 
been  omitted. 

The  Natural  Bridge  of  Virginia  has  a  grandeur  not  equaled  in  any  part 
of  the  world.  It  is  in  the  southeastern  corner  of  Rockbridge  county,  in 
the  midst  of  the  wild  Blue  Ridge  scenery,  fourteen  miles  from  Lexington 
and  about  thirty-five  miles  from  Lynchburg.  The  arch  is  some  two  hundred 
feet  high  and  surmounted  by  solid  live  rock,  over  which  grow  giant  white 
oaks.  The  rocky  sides  of  the  arch  have  tempted  many  a  climber,  and 
among  the  names  of  the  daring  ones,  who  have  crept  up  part  of  the  way, 
is  that  of  George  Washington. 

The  Natural  Cave  is  located  in  Edmonson  County,  Kentucky. 
Here  we  find  five  hundred  known  caverns  penetrating  a  level  plateau 
rising  out  of  a  limestone  plain.  This  plateau  is  held  up  by  a  capping 
of  massive  sandstone.  These  many  caves  have  been  carved  out  by  the 
action  of  the  water  on  the  carboniferous  limestone.  In  passing  through 
the  limestone  the  water  becomes  charged  with  lime  and  this  is  redeposited 
forming  stalactites  and  stalagmites.  The  upper  member  of  the  limestone 
contains  iron  pyrites  and  through  the  agency  of  moisture  and  air  upon 
these  and  the  limestone,  sulphate  of  lime  or  gypsum  is  formed  and  the 
gypsum  crystals  incrust  the  walls  and  ceilings  in  the  drier  and  upper 
portions,  more  especially  in  Mammoth  Cave,  the  largest  of  these  caves, 
where  beautiful  and  fantastic  figures  of  sparkling  white  are  formed. 
These  gypsum  formations  grow  out  of  the  rock  as  hoar-frost  grows  out  of 
the  ground.  The  stalactite  formations  in  Mammoth  Cave,  while  beau- 
tiful, especially  in  some  of  the  great  domes,  are  surpassed  by  the  wonder- 
ful pendants,  alabaster  and  many  onyx  columns,  and  translucent  curtains 

488 


NATURAL   BRIDGE   OF  VIRGINIA — This   is   one  of  nature's   strangest   moods — Tlie   mountain, 

forms  a  perfect  arch  200  feet  high — It  is  surmounted  by  solid  rock    over  which 

grow  giant  white  oaks — Washington  climbed  this  rock  barrier. 


LARGEST  SKA   OF  FRESH   WATER  IN  THE  WORLD — The  area  of  this  chain  of  five  lakes  is 

90,000    square    miles     (larger    than    England.    Scotland    and    Wales    combined) — These 

great  inland   seas  are  important  factors   in   the  development  of  American 

commerce — The  cities  around  the  Great  Lakes  are  developing  more 

rapidly  than  any  group  of  cities  in  the  world- 


GRANDEUR  OF  AMERICAN  SCENERY 

in  several  of  the  caves  in  other  parts  of  Edmonson  County;  but  no  cave 
approaches  the  Mammoth  in  size  and  sublimity  of  its  avenues,  its  awe- 
inspiring  domes,  the  mysterious  rivers  and  in  the  rare  beauty  of  the  fes- 
toons of  flowers  and  sparkling  crystals  ornamenting  miles  of  avenues. 

The  tableland  of  the  Blue  Ridge  in  the  valley  of  the  French  Broad 
River  in  North  Carolina  is  another  part  of  the  country  which  is  almost  as 
replete  with  strange  geological  phenomena  and  startling  contrasts  as  the 
Yellowstone  or  the  Yosemite.  The  geographical  center  of  the  region  is 
Asheville,  over  2,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  view  from  the 
city  embraces  on  one  side  interminable  ranges  of  mountains,  on  the  other 
the  deep,  savage  valley.  The  river  is  torrent-like,  boiling  and  bounding, 
cut  by  rapids  and  tumbling  waterfalls,  detaching  from  its  steep  banks 
masses  of  rocks  that  stand  column-like  or  undermining  the  cliffs  which  in 
many  places  hang  over  its  course  threatening  momentarily  to  topple  down. 
Mt.  Mitchell  here  is  the  highest  peak  east  of  the  Rockies. 

The  sun-kissed  hills  of  the  Southland,  washed  by  the  blue  waters  of 
the  gulf  and  the  Southern  Atlantic,  form  a  garden-land,  appareled  in  trop- 
ical foliage — an  American  Mediterranean. 

The  scenery  of  the  Atlantic  region,  rugged  and  grand  as  it  may  be, 
does  not  compare  in  any  way  with  the  mighty  aspects  of  nature  west  of 
the  Great  Plains.  In  the  Rocky  Mountains,  or  in  the  California  ranges, 
we  step  into  a  Land  of  the  Gods — an  American  Olympus.  There  we  find 
the  most  extraordinary  scenery  preserved  as  a  recreation-ground  for  the 
nation.  The  greatest  of  America's  natural  wonders  are  the  Yellowstone 
and  the  Yosemite  Parks,  which  are  described  in  the  chapter  devoted  to 
Beautiful  American  Parks. 

After  crossing  the  Wyoming  border  and  the  Laramie  Plains,  we  reach 
the  first  buttresses  of  the  Rockies.  On  the  way  there  one  meets  the  curious 
buttes,  which  are  grouped  together  like  giant  fortresses,  with  fantastic 
towers  and  walls,  lonely,  weird,  and  strong.  The  Church  Butte  is  the 
grandest  of  all ;  it  looks  like  a  gigantic  cathedral  falling  into  decay,  quaint 
in  its  crumbling  ornaments,  majestic  in  its  height  and  breadth,  surrounded 
by  the  barren  waste. 

The  Rocky  Mountains  in  many  respects  surpass  the  Alps.  From  the 
summit  of  Mount  Lincoln,  on  a  clear  day,  a  view  is  obtained  which  could 
not  be  duplicated  in  Switzerland  or  Italy.  Peaks  ascend  so  thickly  that 
nature  seems  to  have  built  a  dividing  wall  across  the  universe.  There 
are  130  of  them;  thirty  of  these  are  not  less  than  13,000  feet  high,  al- 
most the  altitude  of  Mount  Blanc;  fifty  rise  above  14,000  feet.  It  is 
only  the  Himalayas  which  could  present  such  an  aggregation  of  lofty 
mountains.  The  virgin  beauty  of  the  Alpine  snow  plains  is  changed  in 

491 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

form,  for  the  snow  in  the  Rockies  accumulates  in  banks  or  masses  but 
does  not  conceal  the  landscape,  as  it  does  on  the  Alpine  plateaux.  But 
the  Alps  never  present  anything  as  curious  as  the  various  canons  of  Col- 
orado, the  Grand  Canon,  Labyrinth  Canon,  Cataract  Canon,  Marble 
Canon,  and  one  hundred  others  cut  by  ancient  glaciers  through  limestone 
or  marble. 

In  contrast  with  the  Atlantic  coast,  the  whole  Pacific  seaboard  pre- 
sents a  bewildering  variety  of  scenery,  fantastic  in  its  aspects.  The  Sierras 
descend  almost  into  the  ocean  and  the  tremendous  waves  of  the  Pacific 
have  scripted  strange  and  wondrous  shapes  into  the  cliff  of  the  shore,  beat- 
ing out  caverns  wherever  the  lower  strata  were  mere  conglomerate,  de- 
taching huge  column-like  rocks  on  which  myriads  of  sea  birds  perch. 
The  Golden  Gate  has  been  described  a  thousand  times  in  prose  and  in 
verse  but  a  book  could  be  written  on  the  wonderful  Mendocino  coast 
alone.  It  is  the  gate  through  which  the  sun  in  his  majestic  splendor 
passes  from  the  American  continent  to  the  Western  seas,  night  and  the  stars 
stealing  in  behind.  But  nature,  in  her  generosity  of  beauty  and  utility, 
has  built  into  the  Western  wall  of  the  continent  at  San  Francisco  a  golden 
sea-gate.  This  wonderful  gate  forms  the  entrance  and  exit  for  the  com- 
merce of  the  Pacific.  Two  great,  gray  rocks  jut  into  the  waves,  and  be- 
tween them  the  deep,  blue  tide  flows  in  and  out.  But  with  the  even- 
ing comes  a  change.  The  sun  now  touches  the  heavens  and  earth  and 
the  sea  with  his  magic  brush  of  fire  and  the  low  clouds  glow  with  a  golden 
fleece ;  then  the  rocks  become  burnished,  and  a  sea  of  molten  gold  sweeps 
through  the  Golden  Gate.  A  new,  strange  world  seems  suddenly  to  have 
dawned  upon  the  senses  of  the  spectator,  but  with  every  passing  moment 
there  is  a  change  in  tint,  until  the  splendor  of  light  fades  into  the  steal- 
ing purple  shadows,  and  night  spreads  its  mantle  upon  shore  and  sea. 
Nowhere  on  the  globe  does  one  get  such  vivid  sunset  color  effects.  A 
wild  exultation  flames  up  in  the  heart  of  almost  every  beholder.  Nature  is 
almost  garish  in  its  splendor  here,  so  that  it  may  not  escape  even  the  dullest 
soul.  One  who  has  seen  a  Golden  Gate  sunset,  never  forgets  it. 


492 


PART  VI  CHAPTER  XXIII 


BEAUTIFUL  AMERICAN  PARKS 


"Go  forth  under  the  open  sky,  and  list  to  nature's  teachings." — Bryant. 

CIVILIZATION  is  a  destroyer  as  well  as  a  creator.     It  first  de- 
stroys nature — and  then  erects  its  counterpart  in  art.     It  fells 
the  majestic  forests,  it  despoils  mighty  mountains,  it  harnesses 
silver  rivers,  it  bridges  silent  chasms  in  its  utilitarian  spirit,  and 
then  proceeds  to  restore  or  imitate  the  lost  primeval  grandeur.     And  so 
civilization  has  been  fast  sweeping  out  of  existence  what  was  once  the  sav- 
age beauty  of  the  American  continent,  to  take  coal,  and  iron,  silver  and 
gold  from  the  breast  of  nature,  until  to-day  in  all  parts  of  the  country  it  is 
designing  and  creating  thousands  of  public  parks  and  beautiful  drives 
through  the  art  of  the  horticulturist. 

The  dense  populations  in  all  the  large  American  cities  have  found 
that  to  live  without  nature  is  not  to  live  at  all.  Buildings  have  been  razed 
and  thoroughfares  diverted  to  create  broad  expanses  of  greensward  and 
winding  paths,  hedged  with  blossoming  flowers  and  arched  with  spread- 
ing trees  as  "breathing  places"  for  the  populace.  Every  American  city 
to-day  is  studded  with  public  parks,  like  emeralds  set  in  rings  of  gold. 
Every  small  village  has  its  "green"  under  the  shade  of  towering  oaks,  and 
elms,  and  maples.  There  are  probably  more  than  ten  thousand  of  these 
public  parks  in  the  United  States. 

We  caught  a  glimpse  of  nature's  virginal  glory  in  the  chapter  on 
the  "Grandeur  of  American  Scenery";  we  will  now  take  a  hurried  journey 
through  the  reservations  that  have  been  set  aside  as  National  Parks — 
vast  empires  in  themselves.  These  domains  alone  are  larger  in  area  than 
some  of  the  kingdoms  of  the  Old  World.  Only  a  generation  ago  the 
Grand  Valley  of  California,  500  miles  long  and  50  miles  wide,  was  but 
one  sea  of  golden  and  purple  flowers.  Now  it  is  plowed  and  pastured. 
The  gardens  of  the  Sierras  are  trampled  ruthlessly  by  settlers;  the  slopes 
of  the  Rockies  are  laid  bare  by  lumbermen.  But,  even  with  this  de- 
spoilation  by  encroaching  civilization,  some  forty  million  acres  of  land 
still  clad  in  its  primeval  grandeur  have  been  reserved  for  the  benefit  of 
the  people.  The  National  Government  keeps  as  a  playground  for  its  chil- 
dren and  adults  five  parks  and  thirty-eight  forest  preserves,  which  equal 
or  surpass  in  beauty  the  most  marvelous  scenery  of  the  various  continents. 

493 


AMERICA:  THE  LANTD  WE  LOVE 

The  largest  National  Park  is  the  Yellowstone.  It  is  a  wilderness 
on  the  broad  summit  of  the  Rockies,  a  place  of  fountains  and  brooks  which 
on  their  way  to  the  sea  grow  to  be  the  greatest  rivers  of  America.  The 
central  portion  is  a  wooded,  volcanic  plateau  rising  to  a  height  of  8,000 
feet  above  the  sea,  and  surrounded  by  a  host  of  imposing  mountains. 
Numberless  lakes  reflect  the  sky,  united  by  a  system  of  streams  that  spurt 
out  of  hot  lava  beds  or  tumble  from  snowy  peaks. 

All  the  common  aspects  of  nature  that  one  encounters  in  the  wilder- 
ness are  here  to  be  found.  The  Yellowstone  is  like  a  precious  jewel  case, 
rich  in  gems  and  diadems  of  nature.  Geysers  rise  amid  boiling  springs, 
whose  basins  are  arrayed  in  the  most  gorgeous  colors;  mud  volcanoes;  hot 
paint  pots,  whose  contents  defy  classification,  plash  and  roar  in  bewilder- 
ing manner.  In  cool  fountains,  petrified  forests  are  revealed,  tier  above 
tier  where  they  grew,  rigid  and  silent  in  their  crystalline  beauty.  There 
are  hills  of  crystal,  hills  of  sulphur,  of  glass,  of  ashes;  hills  covered  with 
tender  bloom,  and  hills  baked  in  "hell's  fire"  the  color  of  brick. 

These  bewildering  wonders  are  now  under  the  protection  of  troops 
of  United  States  cavalry.  Under  their  care,  the  forests  are  protected  both 
from  axe  and  from  fire;  the  curiosities  are  preserved,  and  the  furry  and 
feathered  fauna  of  the  region,  which  at  one  time  was  disappearing  rap- 
idly, is  now  increasing.  The  Yellowstone  is  the  highest  and  coolest  of  all 
the  National  Parks.  Frosts  occur  every  month  of  the  year.  Its  altitude, 
which  varies  from  6,000  to  13,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  makes 
it  a  wonderful  health  resort. 

The  Yellowstone  has  been  justly  called  nature's  laboratory;  its  four 
thousand  hot  springs  and  one  hundred  geysers,  innumerable  paint  pots, 
flasks,  retorts,  seem  to  hold  or  belch  a  galaxy  of  color  and  substance — 
no  two  of  them  are  the  same  in  temperature,  color,  or  composition.  And 
what  an  ideal  place  for  the  seeker  after  the  moods  and  mysteries  of  na- 
ture. The  ground  sounds  hollow  under  foot;  now  and  then  it  shakes  when 
the  subterranean  thunder  starts  rumbling.  In  the  moonlight  or  under 
an  overcast  sky,  the  geysers  seem  to  be  monstrous  dancing,  tottering  ghosts. 

In  the  center  of  the  park  we  come  to  the  famous  Yellowstone  Lake. 
It  is  about  twenty  miles  long  and  fifteen  miles  wide  and  lies  at  a  height 
of  nearly  8,000  feet.  Let  us  follow  the  noble  river  that  issues  from  it — 
behold,  we  stand  before  the  wizardry  of  nature — it  is  the  Grand  Canon 
into  which  it  thunders  in  two  magnificent  falls.  The  wild  beauty  of  the 
Canon  cannot  be  described — it  must  be  seen  by  one's  own  eyes.  Its  walls 
from  top  to  bottom  glow  in  a  glory  of  color.  All  the  earth  seems  to  be 
writhing  in  sensuous  color — passions  in  white,  green,  yellow,  blue,  red, 
retaining  its  dazzling  hues  while  beaten  by  centuries  of  wind  and  rain. 

494 


BEAUTIFUL  AMERICAN  PARKS 

Here  and  there  a  herd  of  buffaloes  is  seen  grazing.  Bears  growl  through 
the  canon — touched  by  civilization  and  becoming  tame  since  they  have 
found  that  no  danger  threatens  them. 

On  the  glorious  Sierra  Nevada,  a  section  of  wilderness  thirty-six 
miles  in  length  and  forty-eight  miles  in  breadth,  has  been  set  apart — it 
is  the  Yosemite  National  Park.  The  famous  Yosemite  Valley  lies  in  the 
heart  of  it  and  there  are  found  the  headwaters  of  the  Toulumne  and  Merced 
Rivers.  The  Yosemite  is  quite  different  in  aspect  and  character  from 
the  Yellowstone.  Here  nature  appears  in  a  gentler,  less  turbulent  mood. 
The  ground  is  frequently  shaken  by  earthquakes,  but  the  chemical  experi- 
ments of  Mother  Earth  are  not  as  disturbing  and  obvious  in  the  Yosemite 
as  they  are  in  the  Yellowstone.  Instead  of  ghoulish  geysers  we  find  pic- 
turesque, dreamy  waterfalls. 

While  this  glorious  park  embraces  exhibits  of  every  one  of  the  Sierra's 
treasures,  it  is  extremely  accessible.  It  is  only  150  miles  from  San  Fran- 
cisco, and  many  lines  of  railroad  lead  to  its  foot-hills.  The  park  is  well 
divided  into  lower,  middle  and  Alpine  regions.  The  lower,  with  an  aver- 
age elevation  of  5,000  feet,  is  the  region  of  the  great  forests  of  gigantic 
sugar-pine,  the  largest  and  most  beautiful  of  all  the  pines  in  the  world. 
The  yellow  pine  is  next  in  rank,  and  then  come  the  Douglas  spruce,  and 
the  "big  tree,"  the  Sequoia,  the  noblest  of  a  noble  race.  The  middle 
region  is  dotted  with  hundreds  of  glacier  lakes  and  glacier  meadows.  It 
shows  the  wonderful  examples  of  glacier  pavement.  Here  is  the  region 
of  primeval  granite,  heavily  sculptured  by  glaciers,  and  graphically  telling 
the  story  of  the  glacial  period  on  the  Pacific  side  of  the  continent.  The 
most  attractive  phenomena  are  the  glacial  pavements,  flat  or  gently  undu- 
lating areas  of  solid  granite  over  which  the  ancient  glaciers  slowly  crept. 
Granite,  slate,  and  quartz  alike  have  been  planed  to  a  wonderful  finish, 
which  in  the  sunshine  gives  the  impression  of  burnished  silver.  Above, 
tower  the  granite  domes  and  peaks  of  the  Sierra. 

The  most  interesting  feature  of  Grant  National  Park  and  Sequoia 
National  Park  is  the  "big  trees,"  or  sequoias,  which  give  the  latter  park 
its  name.  The  "big  tree"  is  nature's  forest  masterpiece.  It  belongs  to 
the  most  ancient  flora  of  the  world.  Old  rocks  show  that  this  genus  was 
widely  spread  over  the  earth,  but  in  the  present  age  the  big  tree  is  only 
found  in  California  and  in  a  few  groves  of  Oregon.  The  big  tree  attains 
a  height  of  300  feet  and  a  diameter  of  30  feet.  The  bark  of  the  full- 
grown  tree  is  from  one  to  two  feet  thick  and  is  of  a  rich  cinnamon  brown. 
The  big  tree  keeps  its  youth  longer  than  any  of  its  woodland  neighbors. 
While  silver  firs  are  old  in  their  second  or  third  century,  the  big  tree  does 
not  reach  its  prime  before  its  fifteen  hundredth  year,  nor  does  it  show  signs 

495 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

of  age  before  it  has  weathered  3,000  winters.  Many  of  these  American 
trees  are  much  older  than  this. 

With  the  giant  parks,  we  must  mention  among  the  nation's  greatest 
playgrounds,  some  thirty-eight  forest  reservations — a  magnificent  realm  of 
woods.  In  the  million-acre  Black  Hills  Reserve  of  South  Dakota,  the  east- 
ernmost of  the  great  forest  reserves,  there  are  delightful  sauntering  grounds 
in  open  parks  of  yellow  pine. 

The  Rocky  Mountain  Reserves — Teton,  Yellowstone,  Lewis  and 
Clark,  Bitter  Root,  Priest  River,  and  Flathead — comprise  more  than  twelve 
million  acres  of  unclaimed,  rough,  forest-clad  mountains,  where  the 
mightiest  streams  of  the  country  have  their  source.  The  vast  Pacific  re- 
serves in  Washington  and  Oregon  include  more  than  12,500,000  acres  of 
magnificent  forest,  peopled  with  gigantic  trees.  Along  the  moist,  balmy, 
foggy,  west  flank  of  the  mountains,  facing  the  sea,  the  woods  reach  their 
highest  development,  and,  excepting  the  California  redwoods,  are  the 
largest  on  this  continent.  Leaving  the  heavy  shadows  of  the  woods,  one 
steps  almost  everywhere  into  natural  gardens  of  lilies,  orchids,  and  wild 
roses.  Along  the  lower  slopes,  especially  in  Oregon,  there  are  lilies  and 
rhododendron  in  glorious  masses  of  purple  in  the  spring. 

The  Mount  Rainier  Forest  Reserves  present  some  of  the  most  won- 
derful scenery  in  the  whole  world.  Of  all  the  volcanoes,  which  once 
blazed  along  the  Pacific  Coast,  Mount  Rainier  is  the  noblest.  It  bears  the 
most  picturesque  forests,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  Shasta,  is  the  high- 
est. Its  massive  dome  rises  out  of  the  forests  like  a  world  by  itself  to 
a  height  of  15,000  feet.  The  forests  cease  at  a  height  of  6,000  feet,  and 
then  begins  a  zone  of  the  loveliest  flowers,  fifty  miles  in  circuit  and  two 
miles  wide,  after  which  the  icy  summits  rise  into  the  sky. 

The  Sierra  of  California  is  the  most  beautiful  and  the  most  useful 
of  the  forest  preserves,  embracing  four  million  acres  of  the  grandest  scenery 
and  largest  trees  on  the  continent. 

The  Grand  Canon  Reserve  of  Arizona,  two  million  acres  in  area,  is 
noted  for  its  supreme  grandeur  and  beauty.  There  one  finds  suddenly 
the  most  tremendous  canon  in  the  world.  It  is  6,000  feet  deep  and  from 
ten  to  fifteen  miles  wide.  The  vast  space  between  the  walls  is  crowded 
with  Nature's  most  powerful  and  weirdest  structures — a  city  of  giants 
adorned  with  an  endless,  bewildering  variety  of  battlement  spire  and  tower. 

Thus,  we  might  spend  a  lifetime  in  steeping  the  senses  with  beauty 
on  the  American  continent,  in  intoxicating  the  vision  with  riots  of  ravish- 
ing color  and  form,  in  intellectual  and  archeological  study  in  search  of 
the  secret  of  nature's  genius — for  truly  it  is  not  in  distant  Italy,  or  Greece, 
or  Egypt  that  nature  created  her  masterpieces,  but  here  in  our  homeland, 

496 


PART  VI  CHAPTER  XXIV 


GREAT  AMERICAN  ARCHITECTURE 


"The  architect 

Built  his  great  heart  into  these  sculptured  stones, 
And  with  him  toiled  his  children, — and  their  lives 
Were  builded,  with  his  own,  into  the  walls." 

— Longfellow. 


A 


* 4  4  RCHITECTURE  is  the  work  of  nations,"  said  Ruskin.  It  is 
more  than  that — it  is  the  physiognomy  of  a  nation ;  it  shows 
not  only  the  features  of  the  face  of  a  nation,  the  expression 
of  its  countenance,  but  it  shows  the  predominant  temper,  the 
qualities  of  mind — it  denotes  the  character  of  the  people. 

Upon  this  scientific  foundation  let  us  record  at  the  beginning  of  this 
chapter  that  America  is  producing  the  truest  and  the  greatest  architecture 
of  modern  times — architecture  with  virile  individuality  and  vigorous  char- 
acter. If  architecture  is  the  composite  face  of  a  people,  then  we  have  in 
our  national  structures  the  spirit  of  all  the  Old  World  masters  in  our  public 
buildings. 

The  migration  of  a  million  immigrants  a  year  from  all  parts  of  the 
earth  infuses  into  our  nationality  the  souls  of  the  builders  of  the  Pyramids, 
the  Greek  temples,  the  Byzantine  churches,  the  Romanesque  monasteries, 
the  Gothic  cathedrals,  the  palaces  of  the  Renaissance.  In  our  great  Jew- 
ish population — far  exceeding  that  of  Jerusalem  in  its  zenith  of  glory — 
we  have  the  blood  that  erected  the  Temple  of  Solomon.  The  Hellenic 
age  comes  back  to  us  from  the  Mediterranean.  The  spirit  of  the  Pantheon 
and  the  Coliseum  is  here — Italy  and  France,  Spain  and  England — all  live 
again  in  the  New  World  and  transfuse  themselves  into  the  new  American 
race. 

Behold  the  result!  Here  in  America — under  the  spell  of  the  spirit 
of  liberty — emancipated  from  the  monarchial  forms  of  the  Old  World — 
we  see  huge  structures  of  granite  and  marble  rise — structures  which  almost 
stagger  the  imagination.  The  courage,  daring,  indomitable  will  of  the 
American  people  are  typified  in  the  giant  steel  edifices  that  stand  in  the 
cities  throughout  the  continent — monuments  to  American  energy  and  prog- 
ress. The  sky-scrapers  in  the  great  metropolises  are  mighty  creations  of 
the  imagination — united  with  the  genius  of  invention,  the  power  of  in- 
dustry, and  the  skill  of  hands  and  brains.  The  Government  buildings, 
courthouses,  post-offices,  and  State  capitols  in  the  forty-eight  States  (see 

497 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

the  illustrations  in  this  book)  symbolize  the  present  status  of  American 
civilization — the  remodeling  of  Old  World  forms  on  substantial  founda- 
tions for  the  purpose  of  utility  and  business  administration,  according  to 
the  needs  of  an  industrial  age.  Photographic  reproductions  of  many  of 
these  buildings  are  given  in  these  pages. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  we  are  an  industrial  people,  building  a 
new  nation,  and  we  do  not  claim  to  have  cultivated  the  aestheticism  of 
the  ancients.  We  erect  railroad  stations,  museums,  churches,  schools  first 
for  purposes  of  utility — to  meet  the  needs  of  the  people.  The  element 
of  sestheticism  that  may  be  shown  in  this  undertaking  is,  in  the  present 
state  of  our  national  development,  secondary.  Ruskin  remarked  that  the 
value  of  architecture  depends  on  two  distinct  characters:  "the  impression 
it  receives  from  human  power;  the  other,  the  image  it  bears  of  the  natural 
creation."  The  first  we  claim  in  the  highest  degree ;  the  second  we  are  de- 
veloping with  our  economic  system  and  will  perfect,  as  did  the  older  civ- 
ilizations, as  we  acquire  more  leisure.  As  Ruskin  also  said :  "Better  the 
rudest  work  that  tells  a  story  or  records  a  fact  than  the  richest  without 
meaning." 

Let  us  now  briefly  survey  the  general  development  of  American  archi- 
tecture. America  has  had  a  distinctive  national  architecture  at  two  dif- 
ferent periods  of  her  history — during  the  Colonial  period  and  during  the 
Twentieth  Century.  The  first  settlers  found  no  aboriginal  style  that  could 
be  developed  and  improved  into  any  sort  of  architectural  order.  The 
conical  wigwams  of  the  East  and  North,  the  primitive  community  houses 
of  the  South  and  West  were  very  unpromising  models  from  which  to 
start. 

When  the  English  established  their  settlements  on  the  Eastern  sea- 
board, the  Dutch  in  New  Amsterdam,  the  French  in  Canada,  the  Carolinas 
and  Louisiana,  the  Spaniards  in  Florida,  New  Mexico  and  California,  they 
built  their  homes  according  to  the  fashion  prevailing  in  Europe  during  the 
Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth  Centuries.  Yet  a  distinctly  American  style 
was  evolved.  Even  though  the  builders  brought  over  a  large  amount  of 
their  materials,  the  new  structures  assumed  a  character  different  from  their 
prototypes,  owing  to  the  difference  in  climate  and  building  materials. 
Where  in  the  old  country  the  work  was  executed  in  stone  or  in  brick  with 
stone  details,  the  construction  in  this  country  was  in  wood  or  in  brick  with 
wood  ornamentation.  The  Roman  orders  were  the  basis  of  every  archi- 
tectural design;  but  the  proportions  adapted  to  stone  structure  were  too 
massive  and  ponderous  to  be  repeated  in  a  lighter  material.  Thus  columns 
and  pilasters  became  higher  in  proportion  to  their  diameter,  entablatures 
lower  in  proportion  to  the  height  of  columns  and  pilasters.  The  facile 

498 


MAGNIFICENT  ARCHITECTURE  IN  AMERICA— St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  on  Fifth  Avenue,  New 

York    City — The    finest    types    of   architecture   are    found    in    churches,    libraries,    and 

government  buildings — Private  residences  equal  those  of  many  royal  palaces. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  ARCHITECTURE; 

nature  of  wood  enabled  builders  to  give  the  details  a  delicacy  to  which 
stone  could  not  lend  itself. 

The  Colonial  house,  so  perfectly  individual,  was  formal  and  stately; 
it  avoided  all  picturesque  or  romantic  detail;  its  studied  symmetry,  its 
fastidious  precision  indicated  a  large  but  ceremonious  hospitality,  drawing 
the  line  very  strictly  between  the  aristocracy  and  the  common  people. 
Old  mansions  of  that  type  are  preserved  with  reverence  along  the  shores 
of  New  England,  especially  in  Portsmouth,  in  New  Hampshire,  in  Salem 
and  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  and  in  Newport,  Rhode  Island.  Within 
a  range  of  fifty  miles  from  the  coast,  they  are  not  unusual  in  the  Middle 
States.  We  find  many  on  the  banks  of  the  principal  waterways  in  Vir- 
ginia and  other  Atlantic  and  Southern  States.  Many  of  them  have  passed 
unscathed  through  the  social  and  political  storms  which  took  place  between 
the  Colonial  period  and  our  own. 

Early  religious  buildings  in  America  showed  the  same  adaptation  of 
European  styles  to  American  conditions.  In  California,  and  the  Southwest, 
the  Spanish  missionaries  had  the  Indians  erect  adobe  or  rubble  mission- 
houses  with  arcaded  cloisters  and  porches,  churches  with  low  towers  and 
belfries  piously  preserving  the  characteristics  of  their  rural  Spanish  proto- 
types. But  here  again  the  difference  in  the  material  employed  invested 
those  structures  with  a  certain  originality.  California  is  now  adapting 
this  Spanish-American  architecture  introduced  by  the  missionaries  to  her 
scenery  and  the  building  materials  found  in  the  region.  The  beautiful 
buildings  of  the  Leland  Stanford  University  at  Palo  Alto  show  what 
powerful  effects  can  be  attained  through  a  judicious  use  of  those  old  styles 
modified  to  suit  climate  and  conditions.  In  Florida  the  adaptation  of 
the  more  monumental  forms  of  Spanish  art  to  modern  use,  as  in  the  Hotel 
Ponce  de  Leon  and  the  Alcazar  of  Saint  Augustine,  has  been  so  successful 
that  it  will  probably  be  employed  more  widely  in  that  picturesque  region. 

After  the  close  of  the  Colonial  period,  we  witness  in  our  public  build- 
ings a  return  to  the  Greek  and  Roman  models.  One  of  the  most  interesting 
of  these  classic  efforts  was  constructed  by  Thomas  Jefferson  at  his  home  in 
Monticello  and  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  which  he  founded.  It  was 
while  he  was  a  cabinet  minister  and  later  President  that  the  project  of 
erecting  a  national  capitol  and  an  official  residence  for  the  Executive  as- 
sumed a  definite  shape.  His  powerful  influence  was  an  important  factor 
in  securing  for  the  construction  of  those  buildings  the  best  available  talent. 
This  was  very  fortunate,  for  the  Capitol  and  Executive  Mansion  have 
served  as  the  models  for  countless  national  buildings  and  the  majority  of 
State  capitols,  all  over  the  country.  The  National  Capitol  as  it  stands  to- 
day is  the  work  of  Charles  Bulfinch  and  Thomas  U.  Walter.  After  the 

501 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

capitol  had  been  burnt  by  the  British,  in  the  War  of  1812,  Bulfinch  was 
placed  in  charge  of  the  work  of  reconstruction.  It  was  Walter  who  ex- 
tended the  original  plans  by  building  the  great  wings,  and  the  lofty  central 
dome. 

The  function  of  designing  and  building  Federal  courthouses,  custom- 
houses, post-offices,  and  other  national  structures  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
supervising  architect  of  the  Treasury  Department  for  many  years,  that 
official  having  at  a  time  as  many  as  fifty  or  sixty  buildings  in  course  of 
construction.  The  result  has  been  an  established  style  in  our  national 
buildings. 

There  came  a  period  when  private  architecture  discarded  the  Greek 
and  Roman  styles,  following  the  Gothic  forms.  Immediately  upon  the 
Gothic  vogue  there  followed  the  so-called  Queen  Anne  revival  initiated  by 
Norman  Shaw.  Any  account  of  the  architecture  in  the  middle  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century  would  be  incomplete  without  a  mention  of  Richard 
Upjohn's  work.  He  has  been  called  the  "father  of  American  architec- 
ture" ;  he  did  not  initiate  any  purely  American  movement,  but,  at  a  time 
when  soberness  and  reserve  were  the  qualities  least  observable  in  American 
buildings,  he  rendered  a  great  service  to  the  country  by  returning  to  pure 
archaeological  Gothic.  We  are  indebted  to  him  for  Trinity  Church  and 
Saint  Thomas  Church  in  New  York,  Grace  Church  and  Christ  Church  in 
Brooklyn,  Grace  Church  in  Providence,  St.  Paul's  in  Buffalo,  St.  Peter's 
in  Albany,  the  Bangor  Cathedral,  St.  Paul's  in  Baltimore ;  also  many  other 
churches.  Upjohn  became  president  of  the  American  Association  of  Archi- 
tects, when  it  was  founded  in  1866,  and  till  his  death  in  1878  devoted  his 
energies  to  elevating  the  level  of  the  architectural  profession  in  this 
country. 

America  is  becoming  a  nation  of  magnificent  cathedrals  and  church 
edifices.  The  most  beautiful  among  them  is  the  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral, 
and  the  St.  Thomas  Church,  in  New  York,  perhaps  the  most  splendid 
church  of  this  side  of  the  world.  The  new  cathedral  of  St.  John  the  Di- 
vine, now  in  course  of  erection  on  Morningside  Heights,  New  York,  is  a 
masterpiece  in  Gothic. 

In  the  past  forty  years  architectural  schools  have  been  established 
in  this  country  and  have  contributed  greatly  to  freeing  the  native  architect 
from  bondage  to  European  methods  and  standards.  We  may  point  to 
many  magnificent  private  residences  throughout  the  United  States,  but  it 
is  in  commercial  architecture  that  America  has  developed  a  style  all  her 
own.  Commercial  buildings  have  gradually  eliminated  massive  masonry 
foundations  and  the  huge  piers  anchoring  the  structure.  The  lower  floors 
are  used  for  display  purposes — consequently  columns  and  piers  must  be 

502 


GREAT  AMERICAN  ARCHITECTURE 

abolished  or  reduced  to  a  minimum.  The  walls  are  done  away  with; 
gigantic  steel  structures  take  their  place. 

Architects  insisted  until  very  recently  on  building  their  sky-scrapers 
on  the  plans  of  Greek  temples,  raising  the  lintel  to  the  top  floor  and  re- 
taining on  the  ground  floor  the  pillars  characteristic  of  the  various  Greek 
orders.  It  is  only  within  the  past  ten  years  that  the  sky-scraper  has  as- 
sumed a  distinct  individuality.  The  Woolworth  building,  in  New  York, 
the  tallest  building  in  the  whole  world,  is  absolutely  and  exclusively 
American  in  its  general  plan,  the  treatment  of  its  fagades,  and  its  orna- 
mentation. The  Metropolitan  building  is  another  imposing  example. 

Many  bank  buildings  assume  the  form  of  Greek  temples;  some  of 
them  are  good  imitations  of  classical  monuments.  The  large  number  of 
libraries  built  by  public  institutions  and  made  possible  by  the  munificence 
of  multi-millionaires  has  led  architects  to  evolve  a  beautiful  type  of  build- 
ing well  suited  for  that  purpose.  One  of  the  best  examples  of  that  type 
of  architecture  is  the  New  York  Public  Library.  Educational  buildings 
have  been  generally  designed  according  to  classical  styles.  Yale,  Harvard, 
Princeton,  and  many  other  universities  preserve  a  classical  atmosphere. 
The  various  buildings  which  have  been  added  in  recent  years  to  Columbia 
University,  West  Point,  Annapolis,  Berkeley,  and  other  institutions  of 
learning  are  notable  for  their  impressiveness. 

Art  and  industry  are  joining  hands  in  the  railroad  stations  in  the 
larger  American  cities.  The  Union  Station  in  Washington,  District  of 
Columbia,  is  an  interesting  type  of  building,  monumental  in  appearance 
and  harmonizing  well  with  the  other  edifices  of  the  capital.  The  Penn- 
sylvania vStation  in  New  York  is  an  imposing  structure.  The  Grand  Gen*- 
tral  Station  in  New  York  is  a  gigantic  structure  with  tremendous  areas  in 
which  passages  lead  to  subways  and  to  various  adjoining  streets  like  huge 
arched  vaults.  The  public  concourse  is  an  impressive  hall  which  is  beauti- 
ful in  its  conception. 

Thus,  we  might  continue  to  travel  through  the  United  States,  gazing 
upon  many  notable  edifices  and  reading  the  whole  story  of  the  rise  and 
development  of  the  American  nation  in  these  tablets  of  stone  and  marble. 
Let  us  follow  the  rule  of  Ruskin :  "When  we  build,  let  us  think  that  we 
build  forever.  Let  it  not  be  for  the  present  delight,  nor  for  present  use 
alone.  Let  it  be  such  work  as  our  descendants  will  thank  us  for,  and  let 
us  think,  as  we  lay  stone  on  stone,  that  a  time  is  to  come  when  those  stones 
will  be  held  sacred  because  our  hands  have  touched  them,  and  that  men 
will  say  as  they  look  upon  the  labor  and  wrought  substances  of  them: 
'See !  this  our  fathers  did  for  us.' ' 

503 


PART  VI  CHAPTER  XXV 

GREAT  AMERICAN  MUSEUMS     ' 


"It  is  the  treasure-house  of  the  mind,  wherein  the  monuments  thereof 
are  kept  and  preserved."  — Fuller. 


MUSEUMS — the  treasure  houses  of  antiquity  and  the  galleries 
of  the  arts  and  sciences — are  the  truest  records  of  the  prog- 
ress of  the  human  family.     More  clearly  than  on  the  writ- 
ten page,  can  be  traced  the  ambitions  and  passions  of  men, 
their  habits  and  customs,  in  the  creations  that  they  leave  behind — the 
armors,  helmets  and  shields  of  warriors  long  gone;  the  robes  and  sandals 
of  men  whose  feet  trod  the  earth  generations  ago;  the  woven  fabrics  of 
women  whose  laughter  rang  through  civilizations  that  were  in  their  glory 
in  centuries  of  the  far  past. 

It  is  weird  indeed,  and  yet  how  close  we  come  to  life,  when  we  touch 
the  gems  that  adorned  the  throats  of  the  lovers  of  past  ages;  when  we 
stand  before  the  petrified  bodies  of  Egyptian  kings;  when  we  look  upon 
the  swords  that  once  dripped  with  human  blood.  When  we  gaze  in  ad- 
miration upon  the  canvases  painted  by  the  hands  of  the  masters,  we  can 
see  in  our  mind's  vision  the  brush  of  the  painter  as  it  dips  into  the  colors 
on  the  palette,  or  the  clay  and  scalpel  in  the  firm  hand  of  the  sculptor. 

There  was  a  time  when  these  priceless  relics  of  past  ages  were  all 
treasured  in  the  museums  of  the  Old  World.  But  that  time  is  now  also 
with  the  past.  America  to-day  is  becoming  the  keeper  of  the  world's 
treasures.  Magnificent  edifices  have  been  erected  to  hold  the  relics  of 
stone,  and  bronze,  and  precious  metals,  the  fabrics  and  utensils  that  relate 
the  story  of  human  development.  Beautiful  structures  of  marble,  tem- 
ples of  the  Fine  Arts,  have  been  constructed  to  preserve  the  masterpieces 
of  the  world's  greatest  painters  and  sculptors.  During  the  last  genera- 
tion the  treasures  of  the  art  world  are  being  brought  to  America,  until  it 
seems  that  the  American  connoisseur  is  denuding  Europe  of  its  art  and  that 
in  the  coming  years  the  work  of  the  old  masters  will  find  its  final  resting 
place  in  the  American  museums  and  galleries. 

America  never  had  any  national  museums  until  an  act  of  Congress, 
in  1846,  when  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  at  Washington,  became  cus- 
todian of  various  national  collections.  This  institution,  which  is  at  pres- 
ent one  of  the  greatest  scientific  institutions  in  the  world,  was  created  in 
accordance  with  the  will  of  James  Smithson,  an  Englishman  born  in 

504 


REMAINS  OF  THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  CIVILIZATION" — Palaces    of   the    cliff   dwellers    who    lived    lu 

New  Mexico  before  the  discovery  of  America — They    constructed    their    principal    villages 

on  the  mesas  in  the  shelves  of  rocky  cliffs. 


A     RIVER     SCENE    IN    THE     EVENING 
DUN       COLLECTION 


RUBENS     -    THE    HOL 
SMITH     COLLEC 


FRANS     HALS       YONKER    ROMP 
ALJMAN    COLLECTION 


VAN  DYCK-DUKE  OF  RICHMOND 
MARQUAND    COLLECTION 


REMBRANDT- PILOT    WASHINC 
ALTMAN     COLLECTK 


VELASQUEZ-CHRIST  AND  THE  PILGRIMS 
ALTMAN     COLLECTION 


ROSA  BONHEUR  -THE  HORSE    FAIR  -  CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT   COLLECT 


MASTERPIECES  IN  AMERICAN  ART  GALLERIES — Collection  of  paintings  shown  on  these  pages  is  repro- 
duced by  special   permission  of  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art  in  New  York — They  js how  some  of 
the   world's   greatest   Art   treasures — Nearly    every   large  city  has  Its  Art  Museum. 


AMERICAN     PAINTING    BY    INNESS    —     PEACE     AND     PLENTY 
HEARN      COLLECTION 


E  (AMERICAN)  -  GEORGE   WASHINGTON 
HUNTINGTON     COLLECTION 


WEST(AMERICAN)HAGAR  AND  ISHMAEL 
SEQUIN    COLLECTION 


CHASE  (AMERICAN)    CARMENCITA 
VAN  HORN  COLLECTION 


SSONIER  -  MAN     READING 

COLES     COLLECTION 


GAINSBOROUGH-A  CHILD  WITH  A  CAT 
MARQUAND     COLLECTION 


Y     (AMERICAN) 


JALLERY    OF    PA  INTINCS    FROM     M  KTKOl'OUTAN   MfSKfM    OF   ART    -Tlu-   Old    World  masterpiece!   are 
being  brought  to  the  United  States  by  private  collectors — The   canvases    reproduced   on   these   pages 
are   estimated   at   a.    value   exceeding   $3,000,000 — Several   American   painters   are   included. 


GREAT  AMERICAN  MUSEUMS 

France,  who  never  set  foot  in  the  United  States,  and  who  for  unknown 
reasons  bequeathed  to  this  country  an  estate  of  over  half  a  million  dollars. 
The  aims  of  the  institution  are:  to  stimulate  men  of  talent;  to  make  orig- 
inal researches  by  offering  them  suitable  rewards ;  and  to  diffuse  knowledge 
by  publishing  periodical  reports  on  progress  in  the  various  lines  of  scien- 
tific endeavor.  The  Smithsonian  Institution  is  in  charge  of  the  National 
Museum  of  the  United  States,  the  designated  depository  for  all  the  zoolog- 
ical, botanical,  geological,  ethnological,  archaeological,  and  art  collections 
belonging  to  the  government.  There  we  find  the  most  complete  collection 
in  existence  of  documents  and  materials  relative  to  the  aborigines  of  North 
America.  Later  donations  and  Congressional  appropriations  have  enabled 
the  regents  to  establish  a  bureau  of  ethnology,  a  national  zoological  park, 
and  an  astrophysical  observatory. 

Museums  have  been  erected  in  nearly  all  the  American  cities.  It 
would  well  repay  any  American  to  visit  the  most  important  scientific 
museums  in  the  United  States — the  American  Museum  of  Natural  His- 
tory in  New  York,  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology,  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts,  the  Peabody  Museum  in  Cambridge,  and  The  Field  Co- 
lumbian Museum  in  Chicago.  The  Army  Medical  Museum  in  Washing- 
ton is  devoted  to  the  structure  of  man,  the  effect  and  treatment  of  injuries 
and  disease.  The  Commercial  Museum  of  Philadelphia  is  the  sole  insti- 
tution of  its  kind  in  the  United  States.  Almost  every  one  of  those  mu- 
seums issues  guide-books  and  invites  the  public  to  lectures  on  topics  illus- 
trated in  their  various  departments.  The  steady  trend  of  museum  de- 
velopment has  been  in  the  line  of  extending  the  educational  influence  of 
their  collections  and  in  making  them  useful  to  the  whole  people. 

This  is  the  age  of  art  in  America.  A  half  century  ago  there  was  not  a 
single  public  gallery  of  art  in  this  country.  At  present  there  is  not  a  city 
which  does  not  set  aside  at  least  one  room  of  some  public  building  in  which 
are  collected  paintings  or  statues  of  artistic  merit.  The  leading  art  mu- 
seums of  this  country  are  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  New  York,  the 
Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  the  Pennsylvania  Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts, 
and  the  Corcoran  Gallery  in  Washington. 

The  Metropolitan  Museum  is  a  treasure-house  of  the  Fine  Arts.  Its 
growth  has  been  fostered  by  individual  initiative  and  love  of  the  arts.  It 
had  no  Government  foundation,  as  did  the  great  museums  of  Europe, 
which  often  are  assisted  by  royal  bounty.  Municipal  help  did  not  come 
to  the  collections  until  the  value  of  the  museum's  work  had  been  clearly 
demonstrated.  The  first  suggestion  to  establish  a  museum  came  from  the 
great  diplomatist,  John  Hay,  in  an  after-dinner  speech  delivered  in  Paris. 
A  few  prominent  New  Yorkers  met  and  considered  the  advisability  of  or- 

509 


AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

ganizing  a  museum  of  art  in  1869.  The  museum  was  incorporated  in  the 
following  year.  A  president  and  twenty-one  trustees  assumed  the  task 
which  was  then  colossal ;  every  one  of  them  had  to  give  liberally  from  his 
own  resources. 

The  first  exhibition  hall  was  in  the  rooms  of  a  dancing  academy. 
One  hundred  and  seventy-five  paintings  of  the  Dutch  and  Flemish  schools, 
which  had  been  purchased  in  Europe  for  the  trustees,  were  hung  and  pre- 
sented to  the  public,  together  with  a  collection  of  various  art  works.  The 
Legislature  authorized  the  Department  of  Parks  to  erect  a  suitable  museum 
building  in  Central  Park  in  1871.  The  Central  Park  building  was  in- 
augurated in  1880,  and  the  Catherine  Lorillard  Wolfe  collection  of  paint- 
ings, which  had  been  bequeathed  to  the  museum,  was  then  placed  on 
view  for  the  first  time.  The  presidents  of  the  museum  have  all,  one  after 
another,  left  to  the  institution  wonderful  collections  of  paintings,  statues, 
or  curios.  The  Johnston,  Marquand,  and  Morgan  collections  have  greatly 
added  to  the  treasures.  The  income  of  the  Roger  bequest  of  $5,000,000 
is  constantly  used  in  making  the  collections  complete  from  a  historical  or 
artistic  point  of  view.  George  A.  Hearn  offered  a  long  sought  opportunity 
to  American  artists  by  establishing  a  fund  of  $150,000,  the  income  of 
which  was  to  be  spent  in  purchasing  canvases  by  living  American  painters. 
Many  other  donations  have  enabled  the  museum  to  acquire  large  groups 
of  paintings  or  statues,  one  of  the  most  notable  being  the  Thomas  Fortune 
Ryan  donation  which  added  a  remarkable  collection  of  Rodin's  work  to 
the  sculpture  section  of  the  Metropolitan.  F.  C.  Hewitt  and  John  Stew- 
art Kennedy  left  $1,500,000  each  to  the  museum. 

The  Metropolitan  Museum  has  the  largest  collection  of  American 
paintings,  both  old  and  modem,  to  be  found  anywhere.  Among  the  most 
famous  canvases  from  the  brush  of  native  artists  we  may  mention  Whist- 
ler's "A  Lady  in  Grey,"  "Nocturne  in  Green  and  Gold,"  "Nocturne  in 
Black  and  Gold,"  several  of  La  Farge's  paintings,  Winslow  Homer's 
"Cannon  Rock"  and  "The  Gulf  Stream,"  William  Chase's  "Fish"  and 
"Carmencita,"  John  W.  Alexander's  "Study  in  Black  and  Green,"  Mur- 
phy's "The  Old  Barn,"  and  Horatio  Walker's  "Sheepfold."  The  more 
modern  men  are  represented:  Dessar,  Dearth,  Mary  Cassatt,  Arthur  B. 
Davies,  Thayer,  Tryon,  Vedder,  Ranger,  Alden,  Weir,  and  others. 

A  collection  of  works  by  American  sculptors  is  now  being  formed. 
The  work  of  the  foremost  American  master  of  sculpture,  Saint  Gaudens, 
is  represented  here  by  replicas  of  three  bas-reliefs.  George  Gray  Bar- 
nard's marble  group,  "I  feel  two  natures  struggling  within  me,"  Paul  Way- 
land's  "The  Bohemian,"  MacMonnies  "Bacchante,"  exiled  from  Boston, 
Gutzon  Borglum's  "The  Mares  of  Diomedes"  are  rare  exhibits  of  New 

510 


GREAT  AMERICAN  MUSEUMS 

World  sculpture.  Several  American  sculptors  have  won  fame  in  animal 
sculpture.  Foremost  among  those  represented  in  the  Museum  are  William 
Rimmer,  A.  P.  Proctor,  Edward  Kemeys,  and  Anna  Hyatt.  A  fine  ex- 
ample of  realistic  portraiture  is  D.  C.  French's  bust  of  Emerson. 

The  masters  of  the  foreign  schools,  classical  and  modern,  are  repre- 
sented by  canvases  which  place  the  Metropolitan  on  a  par  with  the  best 
European  galleries.  We  can  only  mention  Rubens'  "The  Holy  Family," 
'The  Portrait  of  a  Man,"  by  Franz  Hals;  "The  Portrait  of  James  Stuart," 
by  Van  Dyck;  "The  Portrait  of  Don  Sebastian  Martinez,"  by  Goya;  "A 
Seaport,"  by  Claude  Lorrain;  "The  Sleep  of  Diana,"  by  Corot;  "The 
Brothers  Van  de  Velde,"  by  Meissonnier;  "English  Landscape,"  by  Gains- 
borough, and  many  other  masterpieces. 

The  Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts  was  opened  to  the  public  in  1876, 
after  six  years  of  conscientious  work  on  the  part  of  the  trustees.  Several 
Boston  institutions  wished  to  have  a  suitable  place  in  which  to  exhibit  the 
various  artistic  or  archaeological  works  in  their  possession.  The  Institute 
of  Technology  needed  a  place  to  keep  its  casts ;  Harvard  College  needed  a 
fireproof  building  in  which  to  place  the  Gray  collection  of  prints;  the 
Athenseum  had  closed  its  art  galleries  in  order  to  make  room  for  its  books. 
The  several  bodies  were  brought  together  and  determined  to  build  a  mu- 
seum, relying  for  its  support  on  voluntary  contributions  from  the  citizens 
of  Boston. 

The  building  was  begun  on  the  site  dear  to  all  Bostonians — Cop- 
ley Square.  Gifts  soon  began  to  pour  in  and  also  large  collections,  like 
the  Way  collection  of  Egyptian  antiquities,  the  Japanese  treasures  of  Dr. 
C.  G.  Weld  and  Dr.  W.  S.  Bigelow,  the  Japanese  pottery  collected  by 
Edward  D.  Morse,  and  the  superb  gifts  of  Dr.  Denman  Ross. 

Many  masterpieces  were  bought,  including  ten  paintings  of  the  Dutch 
school,  purchased  at  the  sale  of  the  Demidoff  Gallery,  Turner's  "Slave- 
ship,"  the  beautiful  Velasquez,  "Don  Balthazar  Carlos  and  His  Dwarf," 
and  a  portrait  of  Franz  Hals.  In  the  Ross  collection,  which  was  pre- 
sented to  the  Museum  in  1906,  are  a  Monet,  a  Tiepolo,  a  Philippe  de 
Champaigne,  and  two  Turners,  besides  exquisite  examples  of  Persian  il- 
luminations. Modern  pictures  have  been  bought  chiefly  from  the  be- 
quests of  Sylvanus  A.  Denio  and  William  Wilkins  Warren,  each  of  these 
funds  amounting  to  $50,000.  The  American  School  of  Painting  is  nobly 
represented  in  Boston  and  is  perhaps  the  most  interesting  of  its  depart- 
ments. Owing  to  inadequacy  of  space,  it  was  found  necessary  to  build 
a  new  and  larger  museum  on  the  Fenway,  standing  on  twelve  acres  and 
fronting  on  Huntington  Avenue.  The  new  structure  is  laid  out  on  the 
general  plan  of  a  series  of  courts  surrounded  by  smaller  rooms,  which 

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AMERICA:  THE  LAND  WE  LOVE 

makes  it  possible  for  large  objects  to  have  open  space  around  them,  while 
the  smaller  ones  can  be  studied  at  close  range. 

The  Corcoran  Art  Gallery  in  Washington  is  one  of  the  modern  art 
palaces  in  America.  It  has  no  connection  with  the  Government,  but  is 
wholly  the  result  of  the  philanthropy  of  a  wealthy  citizen,  William  Wil- 
son Corcoran,  who  died  in  1893.  It  was  opened  in  a  building  facing  the 
War  Department.  This  has  now  been  superseded  by  the  splendid  gallery 
on  Seventeenth  Street,  facing  the  Executive  grounds.  The  Corcoran  Gal- 
lery, including  the  building,  has  cost  $1,600,000. 

The  Corcoran  Gallery  contains  several  old  paintings,  including  the 
"Virgin  and  Child"  by  Murillo  and  "Christ  Bound"  by  Van  Dyck.  There 
is  a  Corot  and  many  canvases  by  modern  French  painters.  One  room  is 
devoted  to  portraits,  and  the  visitor  finds  there  the  most  complete  collec- 
tion of  portraits  of  presidents  of  the  United  States.  Among  the  marbles, 
Hiram  Powers'  "Greek  Slave"  is  perhaps  the  most  celebrated.  The  Barye 
bronzes  are  especially  notable  as  the  largest  extant  collection  of  fine  animal 
sculpture  by  this  great  French  modeler. 

These  travels  through  the  American  museums  and  art  galleries  would 
require  months  of  study.  There  are  the  galleries  in  Detroit,  and  Chicago, 
and  nearly  all  the  large  cities.  The  private  and  public  galleries  in  the 
cities  throughout  the  country  are  treasure-houses  of  esthetic  wealth.  Here, 
in  these  pages,  we  can  leave  merely  an  impression  of  these  riches,  and  re- 
mark with  Goldsmith:  "I  love  everything  that's  old — old  friends,  old 
times,  old  manners,  old  books,  old  wine,"  that  come  to  us  from  the  ages 
when  men  were  molding  the  centuries  with  their  hands  and  minds.  We 
utilize  the  tools  and  labors  of  the  generations  so  that  "men  may  rise,"  as 
Tennyson  said,  "on  stepping  stones  of  their  dead  selves  to  higher  things.'* 


512 


BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT — This  obelisk  stands  on  famous  battleground  of  American   Revolu- 
tion— It  is  a  granite  structure  221   feet  high — Lafayette  attended  ceremonies  at 
laying  of  corner  stone  in   1325 — l>UUiel   Webster  delivered  oration.. 


IIISTOIUC    WASHINGTON    MONUMENT — This    marble    shaft    rises    555    feet    in    height   within 
view  of  White  House  in   Washington- — Almost  every  country  of  the  earth 
contributed  a  stone — Corner  stone  was  laid  on  July  4,  1848. 


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